Burton Leonard is mentioned in the
Domesday Book of 1086 as having 30 ploughlands and belonging to
King William. The name of Burton derives from the
Old English of
Burh-Tūn (a fortified manor) and the name of Leonard, in this case, the dedication of the local church.
St Leonard's Church, Burton Leonard is a
grade II listed structure that was built in 1878, replacing an earlier structure. Although the current dedication is for
St Leonard, as was the dedication in the
Late Middle Ages, the former church was dedicated to St Helen. The parish was formerly a
peculiar, though now it is in the
Diocese of Leeds. Burton Leonard Church of England Primary School was rated as "outstanding" by
Ofsted in October 2019. Burton Leonard has just one pub, the Royal Oak, after the Hare and Hounds closed in 2017 and was demolished to make way for new housing. Station Lane in the village leads westwards to the hamlet of
Wormald Green, the site of the nearest railway station. The railway closed in 1962, and now the nearest station is in , to the south. The village has a limited bus service between Ripon and Knaresborough. The
A61 road is to the north, and the
A1(M) motorway is to the east at
Boroughbridge. The underlying geology of the area is magnesian limestone, from which many of the older buildings in the village are constructed. South of the village is Burton Leonard Lime Quarries SSSI, a site which supplied lime and building stone until 1941. ==Notable people==