Leigh House - History

Throughout history, English kings and queens have had unsettled love lives, and Elizabeth I was no exception. She never married, but it is said the only man she cared to marry was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester: a brother of Lady Jane Grey's husband, Guildford Dudley. She called him "Sweet Robin", but knew her subjects would disapprove, so he remained, sadly, just a favourite.

Ley and Wooley was one of the old tithings of the Parish of Bradford. Leigh House, formerly Leigh Farm, is believed to be one of four farms granted to Robert Dudley by Elizabeth I on 19th July 1574, and was a chief farm of the tithing. The house today sits in its own grounds of some six acres on the edge of the town.

The Bakehouse, probably used as the kitchen, was originally separate. It was joined to the main house in the 1700s.

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