The Roman road from Wantage to Oxford, the A338, passes through the edge of East Hanney, although most of the village lies just off the road to the west. East Hanney is a pleasant enough village with its share of attractive houses, but otherwise it is fairly ordinary. Its church is now a private dwelling house.

East and West Hanney are often referred to as ´The Hanneys´, and the two villages are extremely close with just one field separating them. The Hanneys were built in pre Norman times on a gravel bed in the Vale of the White Horse. Letcombe brook runs through the villages. The brook used to power water mills, the last of which closed around 1920. One of The Hanneys claims to fame is to have been the home of the oldest ever recorded English woman, Elizabeth Bowles, who died in 1718 aged 124.

East Hanney is threatened with the construction of a new reservoir. The area between Steventon, Hanney, Marcham and Drayton is Thames Water's preferred site for a huge reservoir which will provide water for London, Swindon and Oxfordshire.