Leigh, Dorset
Historical Description
Leigh, a parish, formerly a chapelry of Yetminster, in Dorsetshire, but separated in 1842 and constituted a parish in 1866. It is 3 miles SE of Yetminster station on the G.W.R., and 6 SSW of Sherborne. There is a post and money order office under Sherborne; telegraph office, Chetnole. Area of the parish, 2025 acres; population, 395. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £196 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Salisbury. The church is good, and was thoroughly restored in 1889. There is a Wesleyan chapel. Totnell is a hamlet in the parish.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Dorsetshire | |
Diocese | Bristol | 1542 - 1836 |
Diocese | Salisbury | 1836 - |
Hundred | Yetminster | |
Poor Law union | Sherborne | 1835 - |
Registration district | Sherborne | |
Registration sub-district | Yetminster |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1847. The original register books are now deposited with the Dorset Archives Service, but have been digitised by Ancestry.co.uk and made available on their site (subscription required).
Churches
Church of England
St. Andrew (parish church)
The parish church of St. Andrew is an edifice of stone, in the Late Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing 5 bells: there is a memorial window to the Rev. Newton Henry Smart, a former vicar, d. 1854, and also one to Thomas Ffooks, d. 1910: the church was restored in 1854, and again in 1890, and affords 130 sittings.
St. Andrew, Leigh | St. Andrew, Leigh |
Civil Registration
Leigh was in Sherborne Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Sturminster Registration District from 1937 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Leigh from the following:
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Leigh are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the Dorset County Chronicle and the Sherborne Mercury online.
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Dorset, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.