Ardleigh appears in Domesday Book of 1086, when it is described as a holding of Geoffrey de Mandeville.

The area includes a number of smallholdings founded after the First World War by the Land Settlement Association.

The closest railway station is Manningtree, 3 miles (5 km) northeast.

Ardleigh is in the district of Tendring and the parliamentary constituency of Harwich and North Essex.

[3] It is part of the electoral ward called Ardleigh and Little Bromley, and includes the area known as Crockleford Heath.