Leigh is a

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

borough of East Staffordshire A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Age ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England. The parish includes the village of Church Leigh, together with the settlements of Withington, Upper Leigh, Lower Leigh, Morrilow Heath, Middleton Green, Dodsley, Godstone, Nobut and Field. Church Leigh is west of the town of

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Staffordshire borough of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. The town is from Burton upon Trent via the A50 and the A38, from Stafford via the A51 ...

and north east of

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

. The population of Leigh is around 1,031.

Transport

;Roads Church Leigh lies 0.8 miles south of the A50 that runs from

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and is dualled on this section (between

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

and the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

).A to Z East Midlands Road Map, Leigh has of roads throughout the parish. ;Rail The nearest railway station is at

for the Crewe to Derby line on the national network. Leigh railway station was opened by the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a Great Britain, British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shro ...

in 1848 and was closed in 1966 as part of the

Beeching Cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

. ;Other The nearest airport is

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is to the south and Lincoln, England, Lincoln northeast. It serves the maj ...

between

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

History

Church Leigh has an entry in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. In the great book Church Leigh is recorded by the name ''Lege''. The earliest mentioned event occurred in 1002 during

Æthelred the Unready Æthelred II (,Different spellings of this king's name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dialect word . ; ; 966 � ...

's rule of England and the Danish rule of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

. Following the appropriation of the

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

'Legh' by

Wulfric Spot Wulfric (died ''circa'' 1004), called Wulfric Spot or Spott, was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman. His will is an important document from the reign of King Æthelred the Unready. Wulfric was a patron of the Burton Abbey, around which the modern town of ...

Ealdorman Ealdorman ( , )"ealdorman"
''Collins English Dictionary''. was an office in the Government ...

of Mercia, the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

of St. Mary was endowed with 70 manors. The Domesday Book documents the presence of Burton Abbey in Staffordshire as the owners of Legh, with the tenants consisting of one free man and 10 other holdings under

villein A villein is a class of serfdom, serf tied to the land under the feudal system. As part of the contract with the lord of the manor, they were expected to spend some of their time working on the lord's fields in return for land. Villeins existe ...

age. These holdings employed a total of 5 ploughs. Leigh is listed among the manors recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

s cultivated the monastic lands in Leigh until 1178, when the ecclesiastical tie ended. At that time, the

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

sold Leigh Church to Robert Fitz Ulviet for 5 marks, marking Fitz Ulviet as the first non-monastic

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

. In the following years, the lords of the manor included Reginald de Legh in 1268, Philip de Legh in 1341, and Hugh de Legh in 1366. Through the marriage of Sir Thomas Aston to Elizabeth, co-heiress to Reginald de Legh, Leigh manor came under the ownership of the Aston family from

Tixall Tixall is a small village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the English county of Staffordshire lying on the western side of the Trent valley between Rugeley and Stone, Staffordshire and roughly 4 miles east of Stafford. The populati ...

, Staffordshire. The Astons resided in the old mansion, known as Park Hall, situated in Church Leigh. The senior branch held the Scots title Lord Aston of Forfar. During the reign of

King Henry V Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, a branch of the Bagots of Blithfield grew prominent in the region. Sir Hervey Bagot died in Field, Staffordshire in 1660 and was buried at Blithfield; his title being inherited by his eldest surviving son

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

. According to th
1848 Tithe Survey of Leigh
there is a plot of land that was previously designated as the parish

workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as Scottish poorhouse, poorh ...

. This particular site was located across from the " Star Inn" in Church Leigh, where a residential house is presently situated.

Notable people

* Sir Hervey Bagot, 1st Baronet (1591 - 1660) a high sheriff and Member of Parliament for

. He was created 1st Baronet Bagot of

Blithfield Hall Blithfield Hall (pronounced locally as Bliffield), is a privately owned Grade I listed building, Grade I listed English country house, country house in Staffordshire, England, situated some east of Stafford, southwest of Uttoxeter and north of ...

in the

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

age of England on 31 May 1627. * Bagot family, who held land in Staffordshire, including Leigh. * Sir

William Aston Sir William John Aston, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (19 September 1916 – 21 May 1997) was an Australian politician. Born in Sydney, he attended state schools before becoming an accountant and company director. He served in World W ...

(1613 in Leigh - 1671) a barrister, politician, soldier and a justice of the

Court of King's Bench (Ireland) The Court of King's Bench (of Queen's Bench when the sovereign was female, and formerly of Chief Place or Chief Pleas) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The King's Ben ...

. * Ernald Lane (born 1836) an Anglican priest, Rector of Leigh, then a

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Chad in Lichfield, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Lichfield, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lichfield and the principal church of the diocese ...

until 1888 when he became Archdeacon of Stoke; also a rower who represented Oxford in the 1858 Boat Race.

Localities

The civil parish of Leigh is centred on the clustered village of Church Leigh but has nine satellite

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

, with Church Leigh being separated into Upper and Lower. Separating the first two from the others is a field buffer including the River Blithe which flows south, via the Blithfield Reservoir lake south to feed the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

Alrewas Alrewas ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Lichfield District of Staffordshire, England. Geography The village is beside the River Trent and about northeast of Lichfield. It is located southwest of Burton-on-Trent. The parish is b ...

, Staffordshire.

Withington

Withington is a

linear settlement A linear settlement is a (normally small to medium-sized) settlement or group of buildings that is formed in a long line. Many of these settlements are formed along a transport route, such as a road, river, or canal. Others form due to physical r ...

on five lanes that is separated to the west from Church Leigh by fields covering 300 m; its oldest farmhouse is a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, very well known for its pub.

Nobut

Nobut is one of the smallest hamlets; with Upper Nobut farm and Withington farm making up the majority of Nobut. Nobut lies 160 m west of Withington, primarily upon Nobut Road.

Upper Leigh

Upper Leigh is a

on five or six lanes that is separated to the south-east from Lower Leigh by fields covering 100 m; it has three listed buildings: Moor Farm, Moor House Farm and Manor Farm.

Lower Leigh

Lower Leigh is on a winding lane, separated from the village Primary School and recreation ground by less than 100 m, to its north-west. The middle of the parish's three bridges along the lanes over the River Blithe is close to the centre of Lower Leigh. Next to this bridge is the aptly-named Brook Farmhouse.

Morrilow Heath

This is the largest hamlet in area and population, and the most remote. To the south-west, it is on high ground and has a salient boundary as far as the source of the Sprink Brook.

Middleton Green

Middleton Green is small in population and less than 200 m north-east of Morrilow Heath and is south-west of Lower Leigh. Birchwood Park, an isolated farm, towards the Sprink Brook was historically a manor of sorts and is an architectural listed building, like the others in the parish which are non-ecclesiastical, at Grade II only. Big Wood, rises to the southern border here with extensive views over the rest of the villageBirchwood Park

Dodsley

This traditionally agricultural cluster of buildings includes a chapel, and is south of Lower Leigh.OS Explorer Map 259, Derby, Ashbourne & Cheadle.

Godstone

Just 300 m south of Dodsley, a traditional manor forms a

, the traces of which can be made out from the properties, The Orchard, Godstone House and Godstone Cottage, as well as Old Woodcutter, the main four buildings.

Field

Six farms make up a cluster which forms Field; the Sprink Brook discharges to the River Blythe at a point in the south of the hamlet.

References

External links

{{authority control Civil parishes in Staffordshire Borough of East Staffordshire Villages in Staffordshire