In 1870-1872 the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Essington as a township in the parish of Bushbury, with a post office and 187 houses.

The population had risen from 644 in 1851 to 976 in 1861, "from the extension of mining operations", and an iron church with room for 260 people had been built in 1858–1859.

[2] Essington is home to the remains of several moated farmsteads, possibly of Iron Age origin, on the land adjacent to the village's current boundaries.

[4] The building, which Staffordshire County Council has designated a locally listed Grade C structure,[5] has been converted to a private house.

[6] The village has direct connections with 2 main major roads: the A462, which runs from Junction 11 of the M6 to Wednesbury, West Midlands, and the A460 that links Wolverhampton with Cannock and Rugeley.

[7][8] Westcroft, a residential area along the A460 road in the west of the parish, borders the Wolverhampton suburb of Underhill.

Brownshore Pre-School Play Group is located opposite St John's Primary School on Hobnock Road.