[3] The parish church of St Mary the Virgin dates back to the 12th century and is a Grade II* listed building.

[5] Folk etymology has sought to derive the name from a lost "king's well", supposed to have been to the south-east of the parish near the border of what is now the London Borough of Redbridge.

Traditionally a rural farming community, but now largely suburban, Chigwell was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

It is likely Dickens was aware of both hostelries, since he frequently visited Chigwell, which he described in a letter to John Forster as "the greatest place in the world ...

Such a delicious old inn opposite the churchyard ... such beautiful forest scenery ... such an out of the way rural place..."[1].

[citation needed] In 1953 it briefly housed the RAF contingent taking part in the Coronation celebrations.

Some of the RAF Chigwell site is now part of the Local Nature Reserve, Roding Valley Meadows LNR.

[9] The diarist John Aubrey recorded that it was at Chigwell School that Penn had a mystical vision, which influenced his later conversion to Quakerism.

However, the club still runs training sessions for local youth on the Limes Farm estate through the summer months.

[9] A David Lloyd Leisure Centre, situated off Roding Road by the M11 motorway, contains indoor and outdoor tennis courts, swimming pools and gymnasium.

Ye Olde King's Head, which was operated as a pub until 2011, is said to be the Maypole Inn in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge.