Leigh House is 16th- or 17th-century house in

Winsham Winsham is a village and civil parish south-east of Chard and from Crewkerne, in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. The parish, which has a population of approximately 750 residents living in some 335 households, includes the ham ...

, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The site was previously part of the

Forde Abbey Forde Abbey is a privately owned former Cistercian monastery in Dorset, England, with a postal address in Chard, Somerset. The house and gardens are run as a tourist attraction while the estate is farmed to provide additional revenue. Forde Abbey ...

estate until the dissolution of the monasteries, and then bought by the Henley family who built the house at some point between 1590 and 1617.

Henry Henley Henry Henley (1612–1696) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1653 and 1681. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. Henley was the eldest surviving son of Henry Henley of ...

(1612–1696) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at various times between 1653 and 1681. He supported the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. In 1759 the house was let to Robert Hanning. It is made of local

lias Lias may refer to: Geology * Lias Formation, a geologic formation in France *Lias Group, a lithostratigraphic unit in western Europe * Early Jurassic, an epoch People * Godfrey Lias, British author * Mohd Shamsudin Lias (born 1953), Malaysian ...

stone with

Hamstone Hamstone is the name given to a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material ...

dressings. It is "E" shaped with the five- bay east elevation of two storeys with attics above them. The north and south sides are of six bays. The main room on the ground floor is the Great Hall which, along with other rooms, still contains original large fireplaces. The house was modified in 1893, and then sold by the descendants of the Henley family in 1919. Subsequent owners included the local MP George Davies. After his death many of the furnishings of the house were sold at auction. The house has since been divided into four residences.

References

{{reflist Grade II* listed buildings in South Somerset Houses completed in 1617 Grade II* listed houses in Somerset 1617 establishments in England