North Leigh
North Leigh | ||
---|---|---|
Shire county | ||
Region | ||
Country | England | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom | |
Post town | Witney | |
Postcode district | OX29 | |
Dialling code | 01993 | |
Police | Thames Valley | |
Fire | Oxfordshire | |
Ambulance | South Central | |
UK Parliament | ||
Website | www www | |
North Leigh is a village and
Early history
Green Wood fort, about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the village in the grounds of
The course of
In 1928 the remains of eight
In local dialect North Leigh is pronounced "Nor'Lye", and the parish newsletter is called the Nor'Lye News.[5]
Manor
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that the Norman nobleman Roger d'Ivry held the manor of North Leigh.[6] D'Ivry was a brother in arms of Robert D'Oyly who built Oxford Castle. Roger d'Ivry granted two thirds of the demesne tithes of the manor to St. George's church in Oxford Castle.[6]
Some of d'Ivry's manors, including North Leigh, became part of the
In the 13th century the honour of St. Valery passed to the Earl of Cornwall, but when Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall died childless in 1300 it then passed to the Crown.[6]
Lieu-Dieu Abbey in the
In 1544 the Crown granted the former Hailes land to three London citizens, and in 1555 one of them then granted it to the Bridewell Hospital in London.[6] In 1544 the Crown granted the manor to Sir Thomas Pope, with whose heirs it remained until a later Thomas Pope, the 3rd Earl of Downe sold it in 1660.[6]
From 1676 the manor belonged to the Perrott family, who had been linked with the Popes by marriage in the 16th century, and after whom Perrotts Hill Farm is named.[6] Perrotts Hill farmhouse is 17th century or older, but was remodelled in the 18th and 19th centuries.[6]
In 1765 James Leigh-Perrott sold the manor of North Leigh to
Churches
Church of England
The
The Gothic Revival architect GE Street restored St Mary's in 1864.[10] The tower has a ring of six bells[9] cast by Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1875.[11]
Shortly after 1726 the
Other denominations
A
By 1770 villagers from North Leigh were attending Wesleyan meetings in the area.[12] The Wesleyan congregation seems to have had a chapel in Chapel Lane by the 1790s, which was rebuilt in 1820.[12] The chapel was rebuilt again in 1873[12] and is now North Leigh Methodist Church. Windmill Gospel Hall[13] is a small independent church in Common Road that was built in the 20th century. Its current building is the second on the site.[14]
Social and economic history
By 1005 there was an east–west road through Bladon, Long Hanborough and North Leigh parish that was the main link between Witney and Oxford.[4] Over the centuries its course changed and it was straightened, and in 1751 it was made into a turnpike.[4] It ceased to be a turnpike in 1869,[4] and the modern course of the road is now classified the A4095. In 1642 Royalist troops were billeted in the village after the English Civil War Battle of Edgehill and "plundered and pillaged" the neighbourhood.[4] On 4 June 1644 Charles I, while retreating from Oxford, spent the night at Perrotts Hill Farm before continuing westwards to Burford.[4]
North Leigh's first record of a
Windmill
In the centre of the village is North Leigh
School
In 1721 Anne Perrott, wife of the Lord of the Manor, gave money to pay for a teacher and books for children in the village.[17] By the 1830s the village had two schools, and in 1838 George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough gave a site for a new school building into which to merge them.[17] The school was built with a Parliamentary grant and organised as a National School.[17] The school often had more pupils than it was built for, and was enlarged in 1854, 1871 and 1885.[17] It was reorganised as a junior school in 1928[17] and became a Church of England school[18] in 1959.[17] The school moved to a new building on a different site in 1967, and the old school building and teacher's house were sold as private housing in 1974.[17]
Amenities
Stagecoach West route S7 serves North Leigh seven days a week. Buses run twice an hour to Witney in one direction, and to Oxford via Long Hanborough, Woodstock, Kidlington, and Oxford Parkway in the other.[19]
North Leigh F.C. is an association football club founded in 1908.[20] It plays in the Southern Football League Division One Central.[21]
North Leigh has a Women's Institute.[22]
References
- Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
- ^ a b c Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 721.
- ^ "North Leigh Roman Villa". English Heritage. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 213–219
- ^ "Nor'Lye News". Archived from the original on 10 August 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 219–224
- ^ "Welcome - St. Mary's North Leigh". www.northleighchurch.org.
- ^ a b c Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 719.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 231–235
- ^ a b c Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 720.
- ^ Baldwin, Sid (2 September 2011). "North Leigh S Mary". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
- ^ a b c d Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 235–236
- ^ "Home". Windmill Gospel Hall.
- ^ "History". Windmill Gospel Hall. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
- ^ a b c Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 224–230
- ^ Foreman 1983, fig 50.
- ^ a b c d e f g Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 236–237
- ^ "North Leigh C of E Primary School". Archived from the original on 14 August 2015.
- ^ "S7 from Oxford to Woodstock & Witney" (PDF). Stagecoach West. 5 March 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- ^ "North Leigh Football Club: History". www.pitchero.com.
- ^ "Evo-Stik South Division One Central Teams 2018/2019". Southern Football League. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
- ^ "Find a WI". Oxfordshire Federation of Women's Institutes. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
Sources and further reading
- Crossley, Alan; Elrington, CR, eds. (1990). "North Leigh". A History of the County of Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19722-774-9.
- Emery, Frank (1974). The Oxfordshire Landscape. The Making of the English Landscape. London: ISBN 0-340-04301-6.
- Foreman, Wilfrid (1983). Oxfordshire Mills. Chichester: ISBN 0-85033-441-1.
- Prof Hunt, John (FRS) (2010). "A History of North Leigh" (PDF).
- Oxoniensia. V. Oxford Architectural and Historical Society: 21–32.
- Schumer, Beryl (1975). "An Elizabethan Survey of North Leigh, Oxfordshire". Oxoniensia. XL. ISSN 0308-5562.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
External links
- North Leigh Parish
- Northleigh
- East End Northleigh
- "North Leigh Roman Villa". English Heritage.