[1] The village was built on the site of a Neolithic or early Iron Age hill fort noted for its oval shape, sometimes confused with the Megalithic enclosure at Danebury in Hampshire.

After the Norman Conquest, King William the Conqueror took the lands and settlement and granted it to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who was made Earl of Essex.

There are three wooden effigies in the church which date back to the thirteenth and fourteenth century [5] One has been identified as being that of William St Clere.

In 1779 the tomb of a knight was disturbed, and the body therein was discovered to be perfectly preserved in what was described as "pickle", but this was contested by Joseph Strutt, Member of Parliament (MP) for Maldon.

Subsequently the house was in private hands, used as a maternity home during the 1939–45 War, acquired by the local authority as a college and then disposed of to developers.

[9] The village is at the centre of extensive areas of woodland and heath owned by the National Trust and other conservation organisations.

Danbury Common, a Site of Special Scientific Interest lies due south of the village centre.

However the quietude of the surrounding countryside contrasts with the A414 road, a major trunk route running through the village centre linking it with Maldon to the east and Chelmsford to the west.

Danbury Church Spire was the origin (meridian) for the 6 inch and 1:2500 Ordnance Survey maps of Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.