Original building The manor of Leigh at the time of the
Norman Conquest belonged to the lordship of
Bedminster but
William the Conqueror awarded it to the
Bishop of Coutances. The original Leigh Court was an
Elizabethan mansion built by Sir George Norton. His great-great-grandson, also George Norton (born 1622), unknowingly hosted
Charles II, who arrived at the house the evening of 12 September 1651, during his
escape to France following the
Battle of Worcester. The Nortons were friends of the Kings's travelling companion,
Jane Lane. The Nortons were unaware of the King's identity during his three-day stay. While staying at Leigh Court and after being recognised by the elderly butler, who had served the King when a young Prince at Richmond, Charles deflected suspicion by asking a trooper, who had been in the King's personal guard, to describe the King's appearance and clothing at the
Battle of Worcester. The man looked at Charles and said, "The King was at least three inches taller than you." Richard Ollard describes the house in
The Escape of Charles II, After the Battle of Worcester: "Abbots Leigh was the most magnificent of all the houses in which Charles was sheltered during his escape. A drawing made in 1788, only twenty years before it was pulled down, shows a main front of twelve gables, surmounting three storeys of cowled windows; a comfortable, solid west country Elizabethan house."
Original house images 1.The Gateway to Abbots' Leigh House, where Charles II took refuge after the Battle of Worcester 2.Side view of Abbots' Leigh House 3.Main façade of Abbots' Leigh House c.1788 A sketch c.1580 of the front elevation of Abbots' Leigh House (note 13 gables?) referred to as the Old Court House After the
Restoration, the King made George Norton a Knight; his widow set up an elaborate monument to him in the church at Abbot's Leigh. The manor of Abbot's Leigh eventually passed into the hands of the Trenchard family after Sir George Norton's son, also Sir George (1648–1715), and his daughter Grace (1676–1697) both died without issue. William Trenchard of Cutteridge, Wiltshire, had married Ellen Norton, sister and coheir of Sir George. The direct Trenchard line died out on the death of John William Hippisley Trenchard (1740–1801) and the estate and the old Tudor manor, now in a state of disrepair, was sold in 1811 to
Philip John Miles (1773–1845), the mayor and
member of parliament for
Bristol. Miles also owned properties and extensive estates elsewhere including
Kings Weston House (by Sir
John Vanbrugh), The Manor House (Old Rectory) at
Walton-in-Gordano,
Walton Castle,
Cardigan Priory and Underdown by
Anthony Keck in
Ledbury, Herefordshire. Philip Miles died in 1845, leaving Leigh Court to his eldest son,
William Miles, for whom the
Miles Baronetcy of Leigh Court, Somerset was created in 1859. In 1884 the second Baronet, Sir
Sir Philip Miles, entertained the
Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. Miles purchased the art collection of
Richard Hart Davis and others. as well as numerous family portraits; however, the majority of the more famous paintings were sold between 1884 and 1898. Burden had been the chaplain at
Horfield Prison, and with his wife Katharine had founded the
National Institutions for Persons Requiring Care and Control to care for mentally disabled children and adults. In 1908 they rented the Stoke Park estate, opening the
Stoke Park Colony in April 1909. The colony was the first institution certified as a home for mentally disabled patients under the
Mental Deficiency Act 1913, Burden having been a member of the
royal commission for inquiry into care of the feeble-minded that led to the Act. The colony was regarded as a leading institution of its type.
Current use Since 2000, Leigh Court has been restored and many rooms and outbuildings have been converted for use as office accommodation, conference and meeting rooms. It is also approved by
North Somerset council as a venue for
civil wedding services.
Business West (formerly the Bristol Chamber of Commerce and Initiative) also have their head offices at the house. ==Architecture==