Hatfield Broad Oak was recorded amng the king's lands in the Domesday Survey. It was held by Harold in 1066 as a manor of 20 hides. A church is recorded as holding 1 hide and 30 acres that were taken away from it by Swein after he lost the shrievalty
In 1141 King Stephen granted Hatfield Broad Oak to Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, but after his death in a revolt in 1144 it was forfeited it to the crown. Thereafter it was let to a series of tenants: Richard de Lucy, justiciar from 1157 to 1179; Walter of Hatfield from 1179 to 1190, and his son Walter in 1191. Catherine of Hatfield in 1192 and Pain of Rochford from 1200-1214.
As for the church, between 1102 and 1107 Henry I gave the tithes to St Botolph's, Colchester, then c.1135, Aubrey II de Vere, Lord Great Chamberlain, founded a Benedictine Priory here as a cell to the abbey of St Melaine at Rennes. He gave the church to Hatfield Priory, although it is not clear how he came into possession of it. The rectory and the advowson remained with the priory until it was dissolved in 1136.