The name Borley may be a compound of the Saxon words "Bap" and "Ley", that is "Boar's Pasture". Recent local research suggests that the name Borley may be derived from the Celtic ‘borle’, meaning ‘summer meadows’ which are still a prominent feature of the area. A smaller parish, Borley Parva, was joined with Foxearth in the Middle Ages. A document from 1308 sets out the 'Extent' of the manor, listing the main occupants and the rental income. From the 1550s, the manor of Borley was in the Waldegrave family. Borley Church contains a large monument to members fo the Waldegrave family. From early times until local government reforms in 1894, Borley was one of the parishes in the Hinckford Hundred. It then became an area in Belchamp Rural District Council until that, in turn, was abolished in 1974 with the creation of Braintree District Council.
Borley consists of three clusters of buildings: one closest to the River Stour, including the village hall; one around the parish church; and a third at Borley Green. In 2012, there were 89 voting residents in a total of around 110, occupying 49 dwellings. Borley is notable for the high proportion of Listed Buildings. There are 15 Grade II listed houses, including Borley Hall, Borley Place and Borley Lodge. The Grade I listed church is a small building of stone originally in the Romanesque/Early English style of the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Pevsner notes that a "topiary walk to the porch is the most notable feature of the church". There is no "defined village envelop" and therefore for planning purposes, Borley and Borely Green are considered to be "countryside".
During the 20th century, Borley became well known for the 'Borley Rectory Affair', involving the supposed haunting of a Victorian rectory. Beginning in 1929, psychical researcher Harry Price generated a story that captured the attention of the nation and convinced many of the proof of the permanence of the spirit after death. His supposed activities were reported widely by the press of that time, and Price published several popular books on the subject that brought him considerable fame. After Price's death, the story began to unravel under the scrutiny of experts from the Society for Psychical Research. The Society went through the records with great tenacity, suspecting that Price had exaggerated evidence to sensationalise events and to suggest supernatural causes for mundane phenomena. Any possible evidence of ghosts was irredeemably contaminated by Price's behaviour and the manipulation of the facts in his two books, The Most Haunted House in England and The End of Borley Rectory, produced during and immediately after the Second World War.
