When built the station was half a mile from the village itself although a few buildings, including a pub called the Railway Tavern (opened c1850 closed 1970), grew up around it.

North of the station there were three tracks for about half a mile as far as the junction where the branch to Hadleigh diverged.

[4] The original signal box (which was named Hadleigh Junction) was located on the down (west) side of the line immediately north of the station.

Construction of the line from Ipswich Stoke Hill railway station to Colchester commenced on 1 October 1844 near Bentley; plant and materials had already been landed at Cattawade on the River Stour.

[5] Revenue earning goods services commenced on 1 June 1846 and three days later on 4 June Major General Pasley visited the line to carry out the Board of Trade inspection which was needed to start passenger operations.

The line opened for public passenger service on 15 June 1846 from an end-on junction with the Eastern Counties Railway at its Colchester station to a terminus at Ipswich Stoke Hill.

An up refuge siding was added north of the station in 1897 The purpose of this was to allow low speed goods trains to recess off the main line to allow faster services to pass.

At the same time the original signal box was replaced by a new structure known as Bentley Junction and it carried this name through to its closure.

Following the grouping act of 1921 the GER became part of the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER).

Goods facilities were withdrawn on 13 June 1964 and the Hadleigh branch closed to freight on 16 April 1965.

in the March 1850 Bradshaw's Guide five out of six weekday trains between Ipswich and Colchester called at Bentley in both the up and down directions.

In the notes it suggest there is an additional train from Hadleigh which uses the north curve directly to Ipswich for a connection to Norwich.

In July 1922 Bradshaw's Guide, the last year the GER operated the service, between Monday and Saturday in the up direction there were seven weekday services (plus an additional train calling on Tuesday most of which started at Ipswich with others starting from Norwich and Bury St. Edmunds.

The station was served by nine main line services in the down direction including a number that started from London Liverpool Street.

In the British Rail Eastern Region timetable of June 1964, two years before closure, the station was served by four trains per day, Monday to Saturday.

During 1916 the Great Eastern Railway ran a poultry demonstration trains throughout East Anglia often visiting towns on market day.