Great and Little Leighs
| Great and Little Leighs | |
|---|---|
Parish sign in Great Leighs | |
Great and Little Leighs Location within Essex | |
| Population | 2,968 (Parish, 2021)[1] |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHELMSFORD |
| Postcode district | CM3 1 |
| Dialling code | 01245 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Great and Little Leighs is a civil parish in the Chelmsford district of Essex, England. The main village in the parish is Great Leighs. The parish also includes Little Leighs and a number of small hamlets in the surrounding rural area. It lies 4 miles (6 km) south of Braintree and 6 miles (10 km) north of Chelmsford. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 2,968.
History
The name Leighs comes from the Old English leah meaning a clearing in a wood.[2]
In Saxon times there appears to have been a single vill called Leighs. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Lega in the Chelmsford hundred of Essex. The vill was at that time split between two owners.[3][4]
No church or priest was mentioned at Leighs in the Domesday Book, but it subsequently came to be administered as two parishes, Great Leighs and Little Leighs. The church of St John the Evangelist at Little Leighs dates back to the early 12th century.[5] Great Leigh's parish church of St Mary dates back to the late 12th century and has a distinctive round tower.[6]
St Mary's Church stands 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of the main part of the modern village of Great Leighs. The modern village was historically known as the hamlet of Chatley and stands on the old road (formerly the A131, now bypassed to the west) linking Chelmsford to Braintree. Whilst in the Domesday Book the whole of Leighs was listed in Chelmsford hundred, the hamlet of Chatley came to be part of the Witham hundred whereas the rest of Great Leighs parish remained in the Chelmsford hundred.[7]
In 1949 the two parishes of Great Leighs and Little Leighs were merged into a new civil parish called Great Leighs and Little Leighs.[8][9] The two parishes have also now been merged for ecclesiastical purposes with neighbouring Little Waltham to form an ecclesiastical parish called Great and Little Leighs and Little Waltham.[10]
Governance
Great and Little Leighs Parish Council meets at the Leighs Village Hall on Boreham Road in Great Leighs.[11]
References
- ^ "2021 Census Parish Profiles". NOMIS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 March 2025. (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)
- ^ "Great and Little Leighs". Key to English Place-Names. University of Nottingham. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ^ Powell-Smith, Anna. "[Great and Little] Leighs". Open Domesday. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ^ The Domesday Book online. "Essex L-O". Retrieved 14 May 2016.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St John the Evangelist (Grade II*) (1122132)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary the Virgin (Grade I) (1171104)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ "Great Leighs". GENUKI. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ^ "Few voted at battle of Leighs". Essex Newsman. Chelmsford. 29 March 1949. p. 1. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ^ "Relationships and changes Great and Little Leighs CP through time". A Vision of Britain. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ "Great Leighs: St Mary the Virgin". A Church near you. The Church of England. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
- ^ "Parish Council meeting dates". Great and Little Leighs Parish Council. Retrieved 8 November 2025.