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

(with a parish council shared with Bransford) in the

Malvern Hills district Malvern Hills is a Districts of England, local government district in Worcestershire, England. Its council is based in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, the district's largest town. The district also includes the towns of Tenbury Wells and Upto ...

of the county of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England. With just a few hundred inhabitants the parish lies on the A4103, the main

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

road, about 5 miles out of Worcester, whilst Malvern is also about 5 miles away. The parish includes Leigh, Brockamin,

Leigh Sinton Leigh Sinton is a hamlet in the Malvern Hills district of the county of Worcestershire, England. It is at the south end of the civil parish of Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough ...

, Sandlin & Smith End Green. The local pronunciation is that the name rhymes with "lie". Due largely to the significant reduction of the hop industry in the area, Leigh, like many local villages, declined in the late 20th century; it lost its pub, its police station and its railway station (with the closure of the

Bromyard Bromyard is a town in the parish of Bromyard and Winslow, in Herefordshire, England, in the valley of the River Frome, Herefordshire, River Frome. It is near the county border with Worcestershire on the A44 road, A44 between Leominster and Worc ...

branch line in the 1960s).

History

Leigh's

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

church (St. Edburga's) was built in 1100 by

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 ...

monks from

Pershore Abbey Pershore Abbey, at Pershore in Worcestershire, was a Benedictine abbey with Anglo-Saxon origins and is now an Church of England, Anglican parish church, the Church of the Holy Cross. History Foundation The foundation of the minster at Pershore ...

. It is listed by English heritage as a Grade I listed building. Leigh Court Barn is the largest and one of the oldest cruck framed barns in Britain. A mile to the south at Castle Green are the earthwork and buried remains of a medieval

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...

castle. Enclosures of common lands caused riots at Leigh in 1778, where anti-enclosure rioters attacked the physical enclosure: Following the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 76) (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the British Whig Party, Whig government of Charles ...

Leigh Parish ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in its parish. This responsibility was transferred to

Martley Poor Law Union Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 individual parishes ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in their parish. Poor law unions were established. In west Worcestershire the Martley Poor Law Union was established to take the po ...

. The area is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a robber named Edmund Colles, who is said to appear in a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

drawn by four fire-breathing horses.

References

External links

Leigh & Bransford parish web site

Villages in Worcestershire Civil parishes in Worcestershire {{Worcestershire-geo-stub