The whole parish lies within the M25 motorway. The origins of the name are because the principal manor was held by the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds from before the Norman Conquest to the Dissolution.

The parish is mostly rural and agricultural with a scattering of farms and cottages, much of it is Metropolitan Green Belt protected land. The northern boundary of the parish is formed by the River Roding and the remainder of the parish is crossed by a number of streams that feed into it or form the headwater of the River Rom.

The village itself consists of a straggle of mostly 20th-century housing stretching for about a mile along the elevated Romford to Ongar road from the boundary with Havering-atte-Bower. The medieval church (largely rebuilt in the 19th century) is situated in a relatively isolated position a further mile away from what is now the village, reflecting the fact that there was no single nucleus of settlement until the 20th century.


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