Leigh, Worcestershire
Historical Description
Leigh, a parish in Worcestershire, on the river Teme, 4¼miles WSW of Worcester. It contains the hamlets of Leigh Sinton, Link End, Sandlin, Sherridge, Brockamin, Lower Howsell, Upper Howsell, part of Cow Leigh, the chapelry of Bransford, and most of the locality of Malvern Link adjoining Great Malvern. There is a post office called Leigh, under Worcester; money order and telegraph office, Worcester. There is a station (Leigh Court) on the Worcester and Brom-yard section, and another at Bransford Road on the Worcester and Hereford section of the G.W.R. Acreage, 6685; population of the civil parish, 5171; of the ecclesiastical, 1152. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester; net value, £246 with residence. The church is of various dates, but chiefly of the 12th century; comprises nave, chancel, south aisle, with Bransford chapel, and W tower; has, over the N door, a remarkable ancient sculpture in a recess supported by Norman pillars, and contains a curiously carved ancient screen, a Norman font, a fine monument of Sir Walter Devereux, and a number of ancient monuments and relics. A chapel of ease is at Bransford and a school chapel at Leigh Sinton. Malvern Link and Cow Leigh are separate ecclesiastical parishes. There are Wesleyan and the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Worcestershire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Leigh St. Edburgh | |
Hundred | Pershore | |
Poor Law union | Martley |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Leigh from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Leigh (St. Edburgh))
Land and Property
The full transcript of the Worcestershire section of the Return of Owners of Land, 1873.
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 following Worcestershire papers online:
Villages, Hamlets, &c
BrockaminChocknell
Sandlin
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Worcestershire 1569 is available on the Heraldry page.