LEIGHS (GREAT), a parish partly in the hundred of CHELMSFORD, but chiefly in that of WITHAM, county of ESSEX, 5 miles (S. S. W.) from Braintree, containing, with the hamlet of Chatley, 667 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Essex, and diocese of London, rated in the king's books at £25. 7. 1., and in the patronage of the Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, has at the west end an ancient circular tower of flint and stone.