Leigh Court is a country house which is a Grade II* listed building in Abbots Leigh, Somerset, England.
The manor of Leigh at the time of the Norman Conquest belonged to the lordship of Bedminster but William the Conqueror awarded it to the Bishop of Coutances. The manor house was given in 1118 by Robert Fitzharding to become a house of rest for the abbot and monks of St Augustine's Monastery in Bristol and as "Abbot's Leigh" it was destinguished from other places named "Leigh". At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Paul Bush, the Bishop of Bristol, surrendered it by a deed dated 25 May 1549 to Henry VIII; on 23 September the King granted the reversion of the manor, after the death of the bishop (which took place in 1559), to Sir George Norton (d. 1585).
The original house was demolished and rebuilt in the Regency period by Philip John Miles and became the seat of the Miles baronets. The estate now offers office accommodation, conference and meeting rooms, and the house has a licence as a venue for civil wedding services.
Read more about Leigh Court: Original Building, Rebuilding, Description, Current Use
Famous quotes containing the words leigh and/or court:
“Every single night I’m nervous.”
—Vivien Leigh (1913–1967)
“The city is recruited from the country. In the year 1805, it is said, every legitimate monarch in Europe was imbecile. The city would have died out, rotted, and exploded, long ago, but that it was reinforced from the fields. It is only country which came to town day before yesterday, that is city and court today.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)