Abbots Leigh

Abbots Leigh is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, about 3mi west of the centre of Bristol.HistoryThe original Middle English name was Lega and the village became Abbots Leigh in the mid-12th century when Robert Fitzharding (first Earl of Berkeley), who purchased the manor having been rewarded as Lord of the Manor of Portbury by the king, He also purchased Bedminster, Hareclive and Billeswick manors. He went on to found the Abbey of St Augustine at what was Billeswick and bequeathed the income from the parish to support the Abbey Because of this connection to the abbey, when the Diocese of Bristol was carved out of the Bath and Wells, Gloucester and Worcester diocesan territories (Patent Roll, Henry V111, Art. 9, June 1542 ) the boundary to the diocese was drawn around the parish, including the Saxon 'enclosure' at Hamgreen which had been part of Portbury manor lands up to this time. All the surrounding parishes in Somerset are in Bath and Wells diocese. The Parish Map shows this very extended historic boundary which puts St Katherine's School and Chapel Pill Farm both indisputably within the parish and not in Pill as everyone would think!The parish of Abbots Leigh was part of the Portbury Hundred.The manor house here, also named Abbot's Leigh or Leigh Court, was a resting place of Charles II during his escape to France in 1651. He arrived on the evening of 12 September, staying at the home of Mr and Mrs George Norton, who were friends of the Kings's travelling companion, Jane Lane. The Nortons were unaware of the King's identity during his three-day stay.