Place:Leigh upon Mendip, Somerset, England

Watchers
NameLeigh upon Mendip
Alt namesLeigh-upon-Mendipsource: hyphenated
Leighsource: shortened form
Leigh on Mendipsource: alternate spelling
Leigh-on-Mendipsource: hyphenated
TypeChapelry, Civil parish
Coordinates51.223°N 2.448°W
Located inSomerset, England
See alsoMells, Somerset, Englandancient parish in which it was a chapelry
Frome Hundred, Somerset, Englandhundred in which it was located
Mells and Leigh Hundred, Somerset, Englandsecond hundred in which it was located
Frome Rural, Somerset, Englandrural district 1894-1974
Mendip District, Somerset, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia.

Leigh upon Mendip or Leigh on Mendip (#14 on map) is a small village on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. It lies roughly equidistant from Frome, Radstock and Shepton Mallet at about 8 km from each town. According to the UK census of 2011, the parish had a population of 514.

The parish was part of Frome Hundred and also of the Mells and Leigh Hundred. Leigh upon Mendip was not an ancient parish, but a chapelry within the parish of Mells. From 1894 until 1974 it was a parish in Frome Rural District. Since 1974 the local governing body is the non-metropolitan Mendip District of Somerset.


Historic Descriptions

1822 - Somersetshire delineated by Christopher & John Greenwood

A parish in the liberty of Mells and Leigh,and locally in the hundred of Kilmersdon, 5½ miles W. from Frome; containing 149 inhabited houses, and as many families, 148 of whom are employed in agriculture. The church is a Gothic structure, dedicated to St. Giles, and consists of a nave, chancel, two side aisles and porch, with an embattled tower containing six bells, and is a chapel to the adjoining parish of Mells. Population, 1801: 534; 1811: 562; 1821: 666.

Image:Frome Rural 1900 small A.png

1875 - Somersetshire edited by Edward Robert Kelly

Leigh-upon-Mendip is a parish and village, 120 miles from London, 3 north-east from Cranmore railway station, and 6 north-east from Shepton Mallet, in the Eastern division of the county, hundred of Mells and Leigh, union, county court district and rural deanery of Frome, Wells archdeaconry, and diocese of Bath and Wells. The parish is considered very healthy; it is well supplied with excellent water, and is 8S4 feet above the level of the sea. The church of St. Giles is an ancient stone building, in the Perpendicular style; has a chancel, nave, aisles, elaborately decorated tower with pinnacles, containing 6 bells, and clock, porch and organ. The register dates from the year 1566. The living is a chapelry, yearly value £200, annexed to the vicarage of Vobster, in the gilt of the rector of Mells, and held by the Rev. George Augustus Mahon, M.A., of Hertford College, Oxford. There is a school for boys and girls. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists have chapels here. J. F. Fortescue Horner, esq., of Mells, is lord of the manor, and owns nearly the whole of the parish. The soil is generally light, resting on the limestone, and, in portions of the parish, on the clay subsoil. The land is chiefly in pasture, producing a sweet herbage for dairy purposes. The acreage is £1,425; rateable value, £3,009; the population in 1871 was 512.

1929 - Somerset by George Woosung Wade & Joseph Henry Wade

Leigh on Mendip (pronounced Lye), a bleakly situated village on the E. Mendips, 6 m. W.S.W. from Frome. It possesses a small Perp. church with a mean chancel, but set off by the compensating attraction of a remarkably noble W. tower, which well merits attention. It is of the reduplicated triple window type (cp. Mells) with a finely pierced parapet and profusely ornamented with pinnacles, but out of all proportion to the church. The latter contains (1) a pillar stoup in the porch; (2) a Norm, font; (3) some old oak benches; (4) fine granite altar slab, found buried for safety's sake; (5) two small corbels in the chancel, presumably for supporting a Lenten veil (cp. Orchardleigh); (6) piscinas in chancel and S. aisle.

Research Tips

  • The Somerset Heritage Centre (incorporating what was formerly the Somerset Record Office and the Somerset Local Studies Library) can be found at its new location at Langford Mead in Taunton. It has an online search facility leading to pages of interest, including maps from the First and Second Ordnance Survey (select "Maps and Postcards" from the list at the left, then enter the parish in the search box).
    The Heritage Centre has an email address: archives@somerset.gov.uk.
  • Three maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrate the changes in political boundaries over the period 1830-1945. All have expanding scales and on the second and third this facility is sufficient that individual parishes can be inspected.
  • Somerset Hundreds as drawn in 1832. This map was prepared before The Great Reform Act of that year. Note the polling places and representation of the various parts of the county.
  • Somerset in 1900, an Ordnance Survey map showing rural districts, the boundaries of the larger towns, the smaller civil parishes of the time, and some hamlets and villages in each parish
  • Somerset in 1943, an Ordnance Survey map showing the rural districts after the changes to their structure in the 1930s

Online Transcriptions

Other Resources

Picture Gallery

St Giles Church
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St Giles Church
Primitive Methodist Chapel
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Primitive Methodist Chapel
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Leigh-on-Mendip. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.