is Old English for "Leaxa's valley"; the name has also been previously recorded as Lessendon, Lassendene and Læxadyne. Lexden gave its name to one of the historic hundreds of Essex, referred to as the "Hundred of Lassendene" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The parish was included in the borough boundaries of Colchester from at least the 14th century.

There are two 400-year-old watermills, (both now private residences),