The name of this parish is found variously written in records; Ravenhall and Rivenhall. Rivenhall have been most generally used. It is bounded by Kelvedon parish on the east, Fairsted on the west, Witham on the south, and Cressing on the north.

The road from London to Colchester and Harwich passes through a part of it . It is two miles distant from Witham , and thirty - nine from London .

This parish , in 1821 , contained two hundred and seventy - five females , and three Population . hundred and sixteen males ; total , five hundred and ninety-one . In the time of the Saxons , these lands belonged to Editha , the queen of Edward the Confessor , to Harold , Lestan , and Alestan , freemen, and Ulsi , also a freeman . At the general survey , they were in the possession of Eustace, earl of Boulogne , Robert Gernon , Suene, of Essex, and Roger God save our ladies . Robert's and Suene's under tenants were Ascelin and Clarenbald.

There are five manors in this parish . The manor of Rivenhall was conveyed Manors . to the crown by an heiress of the family of Boulogne being married to King Stephen; and various families held it under the crown, till it was conveyed, by marriage , to Robert de Scalariis , otherwise de Scalers , or Scales , descended from Scalier , one of William the Conqueror's warriors . Robert , his son , succeeded ; he was in several expeditions in France, and had summons to parliament : dying in 1266, he was succeeded by Robert , his son and heir , who was summoned to parliament , as a baron of the realm , from the twenty - seventh to the thirty - third of Edward the First , which was the year of his death . Robert , his son , succeeded , and was made Knight of the Bath with Prince Edward , whom he attended in his expedition into Scotland. He sat in parliament from the thirty-fourth of Edward the First to the eighteenth of Edward the Second.

His son, Sir Robert de Scales , by the Scales daughter of Hugh de Courtney , was his heir , who died in 1369. Sir Roger de family. Scales , Knt. * was his son and heir , by Catherine , sister and coheir of William de Ufford , earl of Suffolk ; his lady , Joan , daughter and heiress of Sir John de Northwood , brought him the lordship of Shaldford, in Essex , and estates in Kent . He died in 1386 , leaving Robert , Lord Scales , his heir , who , dying in 1402 , left two sons , Robert and Thomas , by his lady, Elizabeth , daughter of William , Lord Bardolph.