Leigh, which has been known at various times as Leghe, Legh, Leygh, The Lea, Lye and Lee, is a village of about three hundred and fifty households situated south-east of Reigate close to the border with Sussex. Gatwick airport is 4 miles away. The river Mole is on the eastern edge of the Parish. The name means a clearing in the woods and the area is still surrounded by lovely woodland. The village is not recorded in the Domesday Book and little of historical importance seems to have happened in Leigh. Shellwood Manor which dates from at least the twelfth century belonged to powerful, but absent families or religious organisations. Leigh Place was the home of the Arderne family in the fifteenth century, but when they died out, was also passed round different noble families.
Leigh Place, built by the Ardene Family in the 15th century
Photographic Survey and Record of Surrey no. 3362
Down the years, Leigh appears to have been chiefly occupied with ironworking and farming. There was a nearby skirmish towards the end of the English Civil War, but otherwise the thick woods and heavy clay soil created a somewhat isolated community. Census records show that during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the village was self sufficient. It had its own windmill, a bakery, a grocer and a butcher while a policeman, blacksmith and dressmaker are among the services recorded. The Church dates back to the fourteenth century and has undergone several transformations.
The earliest version of Leigh Church
Church before restoration. This shows the church as it was briefly in the 19th century before restoration, paid for by Mrs. Georgiana Charrington, took place in 1892
Leigh Church
Image: David Hall
In 1845, the Duke of Norfolk who had become the owner of Shellwood Manor, gave land for a school in the village towards which the dowager Queen Adelaide contributed £20, but a Christmas letter from the Vicar written in 1871, talked sadly of children not being able to attend because they had to work on the land.
Bury's Court, viewed from the south.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, several newly rich families became involved in the village. James Freshfield, a successful solicitor, built Mynthurst, later bought by Henry Bell, the brewing family of Charrington built Burys Court and two Watney brothers – of the coal producing side of the family, were connected to Leigh Place. These families became involved in the village as school governors and benefactors.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the school needed much repair and the records describe a child being paid a few pennies a week to empty the earth closet toilets. The Local Education Authority insisted in building a new school though Sir Henry Bell strongly objected. This opened in 1913 and flourishes to this day.
Village school, shown on an old postcard
Over the years, Leigh has lost its shops and services, but the farming continues and the two vibrant pubs remain.
Pump on the Green. Put there in 1875 by James Wilson, who then rented Mynthurst
Image: David Hall
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