Great Bentley is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Tendring district of north Essex, England, located seven miles east of Colchester.

Great Bentley railway station provides the village with frequent rail services along the Sunshine Coast Line to London Liverpool Street, Clacton-on-Sea, Colchester and Walton-on-the-Naze.

Great Bentley is scattered round an extensive level or common, of 43 acres (170,000 m2), on the eastern side of the vale of a rivulet, seven miles (11 km) east-south-east of Colchester.

In 1557 four Protestant "heretics" from the village, including a young woman named Rose Allen, were arrested and three were burned at the stake at Colchester Castle (the fourth died in prison).

At that time the village boasted five public houses, a post office, a garage, several small retail shops and businesses, a school and a doctor's surgery.

Also in the 1960s Great Bentley Parish Council, on behalf of the village, purchased the manorial rights of the 42.5 acres (172,000 m2) of Common Land.

The school's catchment area includes the nearby villages of Thorrington, Frating, Aingers Green and Little Bentley.

The club now has its own clubhouse and dressing rooms built on the site of an old World War II Nissen hut in 1959.

On 8 August 2009, a friendly was played against Colchester United on the Village Green as part of the grand opening of the new dressing rooms and bar.

Adjacent to the mill was a large pond which no longer exists, and a handful of willow trees mark the spot.

In Edwardian times, it was used as a golf course,[citation needed] and today the local cricket and football teams can often be seen playing matches.

During the last weekend of August, the green has provided the venue for Great Bentley Village Carnival and Fete every year since 1974.

The church of St Mary the Virgin dates back to the 11th century, and was built by the Normans[citation needed].

In Plough Lane stands Tom Swallow Cottage, a Grade II listed 17th century building.

[9] In 2010, an archaeological dig was conducted in St. Mary's Road as part of a housing development, which revealed that the land had been in use since the 13th century but not continuous occupation.