Little Leigh

Coordinates: 53°16′44″N 2°34′30″W / 53.279°N 2.575°W / 53.279; -2.575

Little Leigh (formerly Leigh-juxta-Bartington) is a civil parish and village within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated on high ground on the north bank of the River Weaver; it is approximately 2 miles north of Weaverham on the A533 road and about three miles north west of Northwich. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 567.

History

The village appears in the Domesday Book as "Lege", there were only five households and the manor was held by William FitzNigel of Halton. Originally in the parish of Great Budworth, an ancient chapel of ease in Little Leigh was fully rebuilt in 1712 and was described as "a mean building of brick, standing defenceless in the highway". The chapel was replaced in 1879 by St Michael and All Angels Church, when Little Leigh became a separate parish. The salary for a schoolmaster had been paid from a bequest since 1728; classes were held in the west end of the chapel until a National School was built in 1840. A Baptist Chapel was built in 1829. It contains a plaque commemorating an early minister, the Reverend Thomas Fownes Smith (1802-1866), who is said to have been the inspiration for the well known folk song, The Farmer's Boy. In 1872, there was a population of 914 living in 179 houses.