{{Short description|Village and civil parish in Essex, England}} {{Use British English|date=December 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name= Rivenhall | civil_parish = Rivenhall | country= England | region= East of England |coordinates = {{coord|51|50|N|0|40|E|display=title|region:GB_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}} | os_grid_reference= | post_town= | postcode_area= | postcode_district= | dial_code= | constituency_westminster = | shire_district= Braintree | shire_county= Essex | hide_services= Yes | population = 757 | population_ref = (Parish, 2021)<ref name=2021census>{{cite web |title=2021 Census Parish Profiles |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/sources/census_2021_pp |website=NOMIS |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=31 March 2025}} (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)</ref> | area_total_km2=9.386 |static_image=St. Mary and All Saints church, Rivenhall, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 128762.jpg |static_image_caption=St Mary and All Saints' church |website= }} '''Rivenhall''' is a village and civil parish near Witham in the Braintree district of Essex, England. As well as the small village of Rivenhall itself, the parish also includes Rivenhall End and surrounding rural areas. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 757.
It has a primary school called Rivenhall Church of England School. For transport there is the busy A12 nearby and Witham railway station.
==History== A Roman villa existed at Rivenhall. Its site was subsequently used for an Anglo-Saxon hall and adjoining parish church.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Roman villa, Anglo-Saxon hall, cemetery and church site, around the north and east of St Mary and All Saints Church|num=1013831}}</ref><ref>Rackham, Oliver (1976). ''Trees and Woodland in The British Landscape''. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 21. {{ISBN|978-1-4746-1404-7}}. Page 42</ref> A timber church is known to have existed by the 10th century; it was rebuilt in stone in the late 10th century or early 11th century. The church, dedicated to St Mary and All Saints, is now a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1169594|desc=Church of St Mary and All Saints|grade=I|accessdate = 29 October 2025}}</ref>
Rivenhall had an airfield during the Second World War called RAF Rivenhall. It opened in 1943 and closed after the war in 1946.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rivenhall |url=https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/rivenhall/ |website=Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust |access-date=29 October 2025}}</ref>
==Governance== thumb|Rivenhall Village Hall There are three tiers of local government covering Rivenhall, at parish, district, and county level: Rivenhall Parish Council, Braintree District Council, and Essex County Council. The parish council meets at both Rivenhall Village Hall and at the Henry Dixon Hall at Rivenhall End.<ref>{{cite web |title=Meeting Agenda 2025 |url=https://rivenhall-pc.gov.uk/agenda/agenda-2025/ |website=Rivenhall Parish Council |access-date=29 October 2025}}</ref>
Rivenhall was an ancient parish in the Witham hundred of Essex.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rivenhall Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10245795 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=29 October 2025}}</ref> The parish historically included Silver End, which was a small hamlet until the 1920s when a model village was built there around the Crittall Windows factory.<ref>{{Cite web |last=BBC |title=Silver End - a window on the past |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2009/01/27/silver_end_feature.shtml |date=22 July 2009 |access-date=29 October 2025|website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-gb}}</ref>
In 1933 Rivenhall parish was abolished and its area was absorbed into the urban district of Witham.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rivenhall Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10245795 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=29 October 2025}}</ref> Witham Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, when the area became part of the new Braintree district.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|access-date=31 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973|year=1973|number=551|access-date=31 May 2023}}</ref> The area of the pre-1974 urban district became unparished as a result of the 1974 reforms. Three new civil parishes covering the area of the old urban district were subsequently created in 1982: Witham, Rivenhall, and Silver End. The new parish created in 1982 is therefore smaller than the pre-1933 parish, with Silver End being a separate parish.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Braintree (Parishes) Order 1981 |url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20221202003249mp_/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/12203/braintree-parishes-order-1981.pdf |website=Local Government Boundary Commission for England |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=28 October 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/braintree.html|title=Braintree Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=5 March 2024}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}} * http://www.rivenhallparishcouncil.net
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Category:Villages in Essex Category:Civil parishes in Essex Category:Braintree District