Hatfield Peverel is a large urban village and civil parish in the centre of Essex, England. Its population, including the hamlet of Nounsley, is approximately 5,500 (in 2004). Hatfield means a 'heathery space in the forest'; Peverel refers to William Peverel, the Norman knight granted lands in the area by William the Conqueror after the Norman invasion of 1066. Sited on high ground east of the River Ter, between Boreham and Witham on the A12, it is situated in the southern extremity of the Braintree District Council area (to which it elects two members).