England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Leigh St Catherine

The Parish

The parish of Leigh (shown on modern Ordnance Survey maps as "The Leigh") lies in northern Gloucestershire not too far from its border with neighbouring Worcestershire. Leigh is located roughly 5 miles northwest of the town of Cheltenham and sits just under a mile west of the A38 road which connects Gloucester with Worcester and beyond. Two narrow lanes lead westwards from the A38 towards the Severn, the northern one carries most properties in a tight cluster whilst the southern carries scattered farms and cottages and the parish church. Leigh sits on the broad flood-plain of the River Severn, an area much modified by man with extensive drains taking water from the flood-prone lands into artificial channels, Leigh sits slightly raised from that level on a low knoll. The landscape is dominated by broad pastoral fields with cattle grazing the main staple of the economy. Modern developments came and went from the parish, a short-lived canal dug to connect Cheltenham with the Severn is abandoned and runs across the flood-plain as a disused feature. Most of the drainage is man-made and formed by field drains but the River Chelt gathers most for transfer into the Severn and thence to the Bristol Channel through the latter's estuary. Leigh is sited at just 10 metres above the sea, the plain on which it sits is almost level until it rises gently towards Cheltenham at around 50 metres or so. Leigh parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering just over 1,400 acres it would have supported a population of almost 500 parishioners. In Domesday time Leigh was a holding of Paris' Abbey, a much more important place then today's small village it offered a mighty 68 ploughs, an immense number by the standards of the day, very extensive meadows and woodland and no fewer than 4 mills making it a highly productive and profitable holding, indeed.

The Church

St Catherine's church sits almost at the end of the dead-end lane of Church Lane, the more southerly of Leigh's two main lanes, adjacent to the site of the former moated manor-house of Leigh Court. St Catherine was founded as a medieval chapelry to nearby Deerhurst Priory and Pevsner places its foundation to the 13th century. Despite this date of foundation nothing remains of that Early English Gothic period within today's church except perhaps internally in the piscina. Externally the southern transept shows windows of the earlier Decorated style period whilst much else is from the latter half of that 14th century and in a Perpendicular style. The western tower, in a late Perpendicular style, is almost certainly from the 15th rather than 14th century. Like most churches St Catherine received a Victorian restoration, in this case of 1885, which saw extensive rework of many features. Church Lane is rather narrow but is widened opposite the churchyard to facilitate parking. Strangely the church is almost flush with the local stone wall of the churchyard making the better landscape views from outside, otherwise there are no obstacles for the photographer.