Abbots Leigh

Abbots Leigh is a village and civil parish in North Somerset, England, about 3 miles west of the centre of Bristol.

The original Middle English name was Lega, and the village became Abbots Leigh in the mid-12th century when Robert Fitzharding 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 the new diocese's boundary was drawn to include the parish, including the Saxon enclosure at Hamgreen which had been part of Portbury manor lands until then. All the surrounding parishes in Somerset are in Bath and Wells diocese. The parish map shows this meandering historic boundary which puts St Katherine's School and Chapel Pill Farm both within the parish.

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