LEIGHS (LITTLE), a parish in the hundred of
CHELMSFORD, county of ESSEX, 5 miles (S. W. by S,)
from Braintree, containing 160 inhabitants. The living
is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Essex, and diocese
of London, rated in the king's books at £9. Lord
and Lady Olmins were patrons in 1795. The church
is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. A priory of
Black canons, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and St. John the Evangelist, was founded here, in
the reign of Henry III., the revenue of which, at the
dissolution, was estimated at £141. 14,8.: the gatehouse,
which still remains, is in the later style of English
architecture.