Leigh is a tiny village about 7 miles north west of Swindon in Wiltshire. All Saints is a very attractive church building, set in pleasant countryside. It was originally built at Upper Waterhay (about 1 mile from this site) around 1250. The stone from the nave was removed and used to build this church in 1897.
Only the chancel remains at the old site - once a year a service is held on the site of the original building, which is amid farmland. Known as
The Old Chancel, it is now cared for the by
Churches Conservation Trust.
The name is pronounced LYE - to rhyme with PIE but it is often mis-pronounced. Confusion arises when visitors ask directions without knowing pronounciation - there are three local villages whose names can be easily confused. There is (this village of) Leigh - pronounced rhyming with pie, and Leigh Delamere - pronounced LAY Delamere even though the spelling is the same and this village, and then there is Lea - pronounced to rhyme with TEA. This is what one villager told us anyway!
The church of All Saints is a Grade II* listed building - more information about the listing can be found at the
Historic England website.
At the time of our visit we did not have a digital camera but mostly used a video camera and captured shots from it - unfortunately these are very poor quality. We do hope to return and re-take them.