Leigh is a village and civil parish (with a parish council shared with Bransford) in the Malvern Hills district of the county of Worcestershire, England.

Leigh
Leigh - house at the village centre
Leigh is located in Worcestershire
Leigh
Leigh
Location within Worcestershire
OS grid referenceSO783534
Civil parish
  • Leigh
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWORCESTER
Postcode districtWR6
PoliceWest Mercia
FireHereford and Worcester
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
  • West Worcestershire
List of places
UK
England
Worcestershire
52°10′44″N 2°19′05″W / 52.1789°N 2.318°W / 52.1789; -2.318

With just a few hundred inhabitants the parish lies on the A4103, the main Worcester to Hereford road, about 5 miles out of Worcester, whilst Malvern is also about 5 miles away. The parish includes Leigh, Brockamin, Leigh Sinton, 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, [citation needed]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 branch line in the 1960s).

History

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Leigh Castle Tump

Leigh's Norman church (St. Edburga's) was built in 1100 by Benedictine monks from Pershore Abbey.[citation needed] 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 castle.

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

with their faces blackened and being otherwise disguised, and armed with guns and other offensive weapons; … in the most daring manner did cut down, burn, and entirely destroy all the posts, gates and rails.[1]

Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 Leigh Parish ceased to be responsible for maintaining the poor in its parish. This responsibility was transferred to Martley Poor Law Union.[2]

The area is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a robber named Edmund Colles, who is said to appear in a coach drawn by four fire-breathing horses.[3]

References

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  1. ^ MacDonald, Alec (1969) [1943], Worcestershire in English History (Reprint ed.), London: SR Publishers, p. 136, ISBN 978-0854095759
  2. ^ Worcestershire Family History Guidebook, Vanessa Morgan, 2011, p68 The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire.
  3. ^ Ash, Russell (1973). Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain. Reader's Digest Association Limited. p. 321. ISBN 9780340165973.
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