Ramsden Crays is a civil parish in the Basildon district of Essex, England.

Patron, F. Francis, Esq"[3]The parish was re formed on 2 September 1996 from Basildon unparished area.

This population spike was the result of the illegal Irish traveller site, Dale Farm, that grew in size in the late 1990s.

17 men worked in retail and handicraft, this field was most likely split into more clear-cut roles for the 1881 census and beyond.

The remaining male occupations in Ramsden Crays like gamekeeper, carpenter and blacksmith were occupied by 1–2 people maximum, highlighting the dominance of agriculture in the parish.

Women were also excluded from many occupations such as agriculture, commercial and vegetable substance services.

The school made headlines in 2004 when an influx of traveller children came into the school, leading to local parents in the village withdrawing their children from the school and moving them elsewhere due to fears surrounding the quality of teaching, 200 were withdrawn overall leaving only 44 pupils, all of them from Dale Farm[12] Ramsden Crays is 4 miles from two hospitals, Basildon University Hospital and Mayflower Community Hospital.

Dale Farm, the largest traveller site in Europe was located in Ramsden Crays.

Basildon council had initially given permission for 40 English travellers to live on the site in the 1970s.

In 2005, part of the site was declared illegal by inspectors, however, the 'traveller' community continued to oppose the council's decision, leading to a public enquiry being launched in 2006.

It was not until March 2011 that Basildon Council voted to go ahead with the eviction of 400 travellers living their illegally.

By the end of the day, the illegal section of the campsite had been cleared[16] The 15th-century church of St Mary's has been converted to a private house.

In the S. wall of the chancel is a window with two 15th-century cinque-foiled heads to the lights and part of the moulded label of the same date.