Leigh, Worcestershire
| Leigh | |
| Worcestershire | |
|---|---|
 Leigh | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SO783534 |
| Location: | 52°10’44"N, 2°19’5"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Worcester |
| Postcode: | WR6 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Malvern Hills |
Leigh is a tiny village in Worcestershire, sitting where the Leigh Brook meets the River Teme in the west of the county.
The parish has just a few hundred inhabitants, in the village and its hamlets, on the A4103, the main Worcester to Hereford road, about five miles out of Worcester, whilst Great Malvern is also about five miles away. The parish includes Leigh, Brockamin, Leigh Sinton, Sandlin and 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 branch line in the 1960s).
History
Leigh's Norman church (St. Edburga's) was built in 1100 by Benedictine monks from Pershore Abbey. It is 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 mediæval 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]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Leigh, Worcestershire) |
References
- ↑ MacDonald, Alec (1969), Worcestershire in English History (Reprint ed.), London: SR Publishers, p. 136, ISBN 978-0854095759