Abbots Leigh, Somerset

Historical Description

Abbots-Leigh, a parish in Somerset, on the left bank of the Avon, 3½ miles WNW of Bristol, and 2 from Pill station on the G.W.R. It has a post office under Bristol; money order and telegraph office, Pill. Area of the parish, 2276 acres; population, 312. Limestone is quarried. Leigh Court, the seat of the Miles family, is an elegant structure, with Ionic porticoes, built by P. J. Miles, Esq., early in the 19th century, and contains a splendid collection of pictures. The old Court, near the site of this mansion, belonging to the family of Norton, gave concealment to Charles II. after the battle of Worcester, as recorded on the tablet of the Nortons in the church. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol; net value, £186. Patron, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. Leigh, under the title of " Lege," is mentioned in Domesday Book (1086) and also in the Gheld Inquest (1084).

Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Somerset Archives & Local Studies, have images of the Parish Registers for Somerset online.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Maps

Online maps of Abbots 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 Somerset papers online:

• Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette
• Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser
• Western Gazette
• Wells Journal
• Somerset County Gazette

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Somersetshire, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.