Great Henny is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district[1] in the county of Essex, England.

Nearby settlements include the villages of Little Henny and Twinstead and the Suffolk market town of Sudbury.

Some sources attribute her as the daughter of a thatcher from Henny, while others place her from several alternative locations.

As no birth record of Alice Perrers remains, many unfounded theories have arisen about her parentage.

The earliest tradition spoke of a lowly birth, either as a niece of William of Wykeham (1320/1324–1404), Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, or as the daughter of a weaver from Devon.

According to contemporary chronicler Thomas Walsingham, she was "from the town of Henny" and "of low birth" as the daughter of a thatcher.

[13] Walsingham's account is often questioned because of his open hostility against the royal court and especially Perrers.

She was a shameless, impudent harlot, and of low birth, for she was the daughter of a thatcher from the town of Henny, elevated by fortune.

Blind fortune elevated this woman to such heights and promoted her to a greater intimacy with the king than was proper, since she had been the maidservant and mistress of a man of Lombardy.