[1][2] The village church is just west off the B184 Fyfield road, and 900 yards (800 m) north, separated by farm and fields, from the conurbated southern area of Shelley contiguous with the small market town of Chipping Ongar.

Before the Conquest, lordship was held by Leofday, under the overlordship of Esger the Constable; after which in 1086 the manor was given to Reginald, under Geoffrey de Mandeville who was Tenant-in-chief to William the Conqueror.

[3][4] Shelley was described in 1848 as "a small parish of scattered houses, between the river Roding and Cripsey Brook, 1½ miles north from Chipping Ongar".

At the time, Shelley Hall, 65 yards (60 m) west from today's parish Church of St Peter, was home to the Lord of the Manor and principal landowner.

[5][6] Shelley Hall is today a Grade II* listed gabled, timber framed and brick clad house dating to the 14th century with 16th- to 18th-century structural additions and internal fittings.

[7] By 1848, the former mansion of Bundish Hall, 1⁄2 mile (800 m) north from the church, had been reduced to a moated farmhouse, and is today partly within Moreton parish.

The parish rectory, near the hall but no longer existing, was described as "an ancient timber-framed building", and was where Thomas Newton (1704–1782), subsequently the Bishop of Bristol from 1761 to his death, wrote his Dissertations on the Prophecies, which he completed in 1758.

[5][6] The rectory, about 500 yards (457 m) west from the church, dated to perhaps before the 16th century, was later enlarged, was restored in 1861, and had a front face of four gables with a two-storey porch at the centre.

[8][9] Within the church was noted a memorial of inscribed brass with effigy to John Green, who died in 1626, aged 89, and his wife, and sixteen children of whom seven were boys.

Both charities provided for the relief of parish poor, with Bullock's being distributed by the rector on Christmas Day in the form of beef, bread and coal to those of good character.

Ongar Town Council wrote to Eric Pickles, the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, over lack of public consultation and safety concerns.

Fyfield Business and Research Park, 350 yards (320 m) to the east of St Peter's Church, provides 23 acres (0.09 km2) and 25 units of laboratory, office, workshop, retail and services space.

[21][22][23] Other smaller services and shops in Shelley include further takeaways for kebab & pizza and fish & chips, a seafood restaurant, a hair salon, and two small convenience stores (one a Nisa).