Leigh is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in north

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, southeast of

Ashton Keynes Ashton Keynes is a village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England which borders with Gloucestershire. The village is about south of Cirencester and west of Cricklade. At the 2011 census the population of the parish, which includes the ...

and west of

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

. It is on the edge of the

Cotswold Water Park The Cotswold Water Park is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system, straddling the Wiltshire–Gloucestershire border, northwest of Cricklade and south of Cirencester. There are 180 lakes, spread over . The park is a mix of nature co ...

and near to the county border with

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. The parish includes the hamlet of Waterhay. The village lies on a minor road just north of the B4040

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

–Cricklade road. The infant

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

forms part of the northern boundary of the parish; near the river is

Upper Waterhay Meadow Upper Waterhay Meadow () is a 2.8 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in north Wiltshire, England, SSSI notification, notified in 1971. It lies on the River Thames, Thames floodplain in Ashton Keynes parish, downstream (east) of ...

, a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. Other boundaries are a short section of the

Swill Brook Swill Brook is the name of a number of streams in England, the most notable of which is the Swill Brook in Wiltshire. This stream flows for some 10 km or 6 miles in a generally easterly direction from its sources near the village of Crudwel ...

which meets the Thames in the northwest; its tributary the Derry Brook in the west; and the Bournlake stream in the east.

History

Farmland at Leigh was part of Ashton Keynes manor, which was held by Cranborne Abbey (Dorset) in 1086; ownership was transferred to

Tewkesbury Abbey The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury–commonly known as Tewkesbury Abbey–is located in the English county of Gloucestershire. A former Benedictine monastery, it is now a parish church. Considered one of the finest examples of No ...

in 1102. The manor passed to the crown on the

dissolution Dissolution may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books * ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers * ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music * Dissolution, in mu ...

of Tewkesbury in 1539, and in 1548 Edward VI granted the land to

William Sharington Sir William Sharington (born in around 1495, died before 6 July 1553) was an English courtier of the time of Henry VIII, master and embezzler of the Bristol Mint, member of parliament, conspirator, and High Sheriff of Wiltshire. Early life ...

as a separate manor. The estate was sold in lots by Edward Craggs-Eliot in 1803. The Archers Farm estate was acquired by the Maskelyne family, who sold it to Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. The Jenkinson family retained an interest in Leigh until 1913. Leigh was a chapelry of

parish until 1884 when it was made a separate parish. The parish was enlarged in 1984 when farmland south of the Malmesbury road was transferred from Cricklade parish. The population of the parish peaked in the 19th century, with 326 recorded at the 1871 census. Numbers fell to 264 by 1911, then gradually recovered to earlier levels with 362 recorded in 2011. A National School was built at Swan Lane in 1894, to accommodate 84 children. Pupils of all ages attended until 1973, when those aged 11 and over transferred to the secondary school at

Purton Purton is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham. Th ...

. Leigh school closed in 2004 owing to low pupil numbers. RAF Blakehill Farm operated from 1944 to 1952 in Cricklade parish, close to Leigh.

Church

The first All Saints Church dated from the 13th century and was at Waterhay, north of the village. In 1896 parts of it were rebuilt by

Charles Ponting Charles Edwin Ponting, F.S.A., (1850–1932) was a Gothic Revival architect who practised in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Career Ponting began his architectural career in 1864 in the office of the architect Samuel Overton. He was agent for Meux br ...

at a site closer to the village and less prone to flooding. The chancel of the old church still stands; both it and the newer church are Grade II* listed.

References

External links

* Villages in Wiltshire Civil parishes in Wiltshire {{Wiltshire-geo-stub