Rayleigh is a market town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 and civil parish in the District of Rochford

Rochford (district)

Rochford is a local government district in Essex, England. It is named for one of its main settlements, Rochford, though the major centre of population in the district is the town of Rayleigh...

 in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea

Southend-on-Sea

Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...

. It lies 32 miles (51.5 km) to the east of central London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. It has a population of 30,196, having expanded rapidly in the 1960s.
The name "Rayleigh" is Saxon in origin and is cognate to the German place name Rehlach of the same meaning . According to the English Place Names Society, "Rayleigh" derives from "raege", and "leah", meaning "Female roe-deer stream" or "she-goat stream'".