History
(See below for list of articles on Leigh History)
For fuller background see “Concise History of Leigh”
Although the origins of the village are difficult to determine, a hamlet existed by the latter part of the 11th century being part of the Lordship of Tonbridge and by the end of the 12th century it clearly had a significant population as three moated farmhouses date from this period.
According to evidence of its architecture, in the 13th century the stone Parish Church was rebuilt (see Lawrence Biddle “Leigh in Kent 1550-1900” p. 96), so there was probably an earlier church on the site, and large areas of land surrounding the village were acquired by the owner of Penshurst Place, Sir John Pulteney. The estate passed from him to the Sidney family (originally the Earls of Leicester and later Viscounts de Lisle and Dudley) in 1533 and they retained ownership of parts of the land around Leigh until the early 20th century when much of it was sold. Several houses in the village built by the family in the 19th century have plaques bearing the family crest of the Bear and Ragged Staff.
Three events in the 19th century changed the nature of the village, the first being the acquisition of Hall Place by the Baily family in 1820 and the second its purchase by the Morley family in 1870. Both families undertook substantial building works in the village employing talented architects, Charles Baily, George Devey, Ernest George and George Bodley, each of whom, by the use of local materials and distinctive vernacular design, gave the village many of its most distinguished buildings and design characteristics, including Hall Place, East and Old Lodges, The Square, Forge Square, the Village Hall and the School Master’s House.
The third significant event was the construction of the Tonbridge to Redhill railway in 1842 along the southern edge of the village. This not only brought an influx of new residents, but also its embankment created a natural physical boundary effectively preventing any expansion of the village further south.
The original core of the village is designated as a Conservation Area which, in broad terms, extends from Park House and Kennards in the north east to the entrance lodge to Hall Place in the west and includes the area surrounding the Green, the Church and the area immediately to the south of it, the High Street and land to the east of Kiln Lane. Within the Conservation Area are 49 Listed Buildings or structures.
In this section, we reproduce articles written by members of the Society on aspects of the history of Leigh, in approximate chronological order. Details of longer articles, books and additional references can be found in the Archive section.
- Introduction to Leigh: Concise History from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day
- Leigh: Early History
- Artists and Leigh
- Beating the bounds in Leigh
- Bell Ringing in Leigh
- Cinder Hill and Iron
- Oak Tree on the Green
- Place Names in Leigh and other parts of Kent
- Jutish Forest (ca 500AD-1350AD)
- At the end of the last Millennium
- Leigh History by F N Stagg
- Leigh before the Normans, pre-1066
- Medieval Eating and Drinking in Kent
- Leigh to 1550: Villare Cantianum
- King Harold on his Way to Hastings: 1066
- Leigh authorizes creation of separate Parish of Bidborough 1219
- Leigh Man in Rebellion against King Edward (1320s)
- Roads: Three Years and Still the Road is not Repaired – local people complain!
- Wealden Iron Industry: ca1400-1760
- Did Leigh People see Shakespeare? (ca 1600)
- Tonbridge Education and Sir Andrew Judde 1500-2019 – and the Leigh Connection
- Catching the Post – ca. 1550s-1900
- Flooding – Leigh and Medway: from 1600 to present
- Navigation of the Medway 1500-1840
- 1661: Lady Anne Sidney marries Leigh’s Vicar, the Rev. Joseph Carte
- Leigh Parish Registers
- Shingle and Bear (sic): Leigh Churchwardens Accounts 1737-1740
- Streatfeild Ledger Stone in the Nave of Leigh Church
- Crime in the Village, 1796
- Dr Robert Moffat 1795-1883
- Leigh’s Three Windmills: 1820s-1960s
- A hundred years of Leigh squirearchy: 1809-1886
- Architect in Leigh: George Frederick Bodley (b. 1827-1907)
- Leigh for Breakfast in 1823
- George Devey, Victorian architect, 1820-1886
- The Swing Riots in 1830 – and Leigh
- Building of the South Eastern Railway track through Leigh 1840
- What was Leigh like in 1840 – and what might you have been doing?
- Tithe schedule: 1840
- Canadian Red Indians, Shakers and Leigh, 1860
- Hall Place Gardens in the last quarter of the 19th century
- The Great Flood, 1880
- Band of Hope – ca 1880-1900
- Winter in Leigh 1879: Christmastide
- Hall Place Gifts to Workers: 1880s-1945
- Census and Cricketers in the Leigh Area: 1881
- Diamond Jubilee celebration, 1897
- Shocking Railway Accident in 1898
- Leigh Village Policemen – 1900-1990
- Killed by Lightning c1905
- Church Parades, 9 June 1907
- Coronation of King George V, 1911
- Chiddingstone Causeway War Memorial: 1918
- Diary of an unknown man, 1904-1939 – named as Fred Eade
- First World War – Half Time …
- Leigh War Memorial: 1918 and 1945
- Circuses and Funfairs in Leigh 1920s-1970s
- Mummers’ Plays and Leigh ca 1930s
- Leigh Playhouse – 1930s
- Memories of Leigh Bakery and Chapel, 1927-1939
- Fire at Hall Place – 28 November 1940
- Leigh in the War 1939-45
- Memories of a Leigh Evacuee – Gladys Hale
- Memories of a Leigh evacuee – Tony Scragg
- Evacuees in Leigh: Village Guests
- Memories of Leigh during World War 2 by David Walters
- Second World War events, by Bernie ‘Butch’ Baker
- The Messerschmidt that surrendered in Leigh
- The Battle of Britain and Penshurst Airfield
- 1940 and the Pillboxes around Leigh
- Leigh’s Iron Cross: 1940
- Telegraph Boy in the 1940s
- Leigh Meals on Wheels 1940s-1980s
- Bakery and chapel-going, by Joyce Juggins (1935-1948)
- Lord Hollenden moves into workshops – 1941
- Do You Remember Dadlems Day?
- Sunday School 1950s
- The village sign 1951
- Harvest Festival 1959 Style
- A Child at Hall Place
- Village Childhood Fifty Years Ago
- Coronation Celebrations 1953: A Parade of Decorated Vehicles!
- Village Shopping Fifty Years Ago
- Leigh’s First Parish Magazine – August 1957
- Leigh 1952 and 2002
- Reflections of a Parish Clerk 1956-1984
- A Gamekeeper’s Troubles: George Clarke (1955)
- Best Kept Village, 1971
- Silver Jubillee, 1977
- John Parfitt and Papers – from the start of the Historical Society, 1981
- The Princess Christian Farm Colony 1895-1995
- Wild flowers of Leigh (1985)
- French Film Crew Visits Leigh in July 2014