LEIGH, a parish in the hundred of WEST-DERBY,
county palatine of LANCASTER, containing 18,372 inhabitants,
and comprising the chapelries of Astley and
Atherton, and the townships of Bedford, Tyldesley,
Pennington, and West Leigh, the two latter including
the market-town of Leigh, 46 miles (S. S. E.) from Lancaster,
and 197 (N. W.) from London, the population of
the town of Leigh being included in the return for the
respective townships. The name of this place is pure
Saxon, and synonimous with the English word Lea, a
field or pasture. The manufacture of cambric-muslins
and fustians is carried on, that of the former being the
more considerable; and the general trade of the place
has much improved of late years, chiefly in consequence
of advantages derived from a branch of the Duke of
Bridgewater's canal, which here forms a junction with
the Leeds and Liverpool canal. Packet-boats, for passengers
from Liverpool to Manchester, pass by this
place every day. Coal and limestone are found in the
parish; the latter, when burnt, is used in making a very
excellent cement, which is impervious to water. The
market is on Saturday; and fairs are held on the 24th
and 25th of April, and on the 7th and 8th of December,
for cattle, pigs, pedlary, &c. A court baron for the
manor of Pennington, and a court for the manor of
West Leigh, are held here annually by their respective
lords; as are also the petty sessions for the Warrington
division of the hundred of West Derby. The
living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Chester, rated in the king's books at
£9, endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200
royal bounty, and iu the patronage of Lord Lilford.
The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient stone
edifice, consisting of a nave, chancel, and two side aisles,
terminating in sepulchral chapels. There are places of
worship for Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, Swedenborgians,
and Roman Catholics. The free grammar
school is of uncertain foundation, but was endowed, in
1655, by Piers Rancars, with a rent-charge of £5;
in 1681, by Richard Bradshaw, with £6 per annum,
which, with subsequent grants, produce an annual
income of £25; there are seven free scholars; and
the master has a dwelling-house rent-free. Upwards
of one thousand children receive instruction in the
various Sunday schools in this town. Several sums
have been given, by charitable individuals, for distribution
among the poor. The manufactures of Lancashire
are eminently indebted to the ingenuity of Thomas
Highs, a r,eed.-maker at this place, who, in 1764, constructed
the first spinning-jenny, and, in 1767, invented
the water-frame, which was afterwards improved and
extensively introduced by Sir Richard Arkwright.