Purleigh
| Purleigh | |
|---|---|
 All Saints' Church, Purleigh |
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 Purleigh
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| Purleigh shown within Essex | |
| Population | 1,271 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | TL838020 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Chelmsford |
| Postcode district | CM3 |
| Dialling code | 01245 & 01621 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Purleigh is a village on the Dengie peninsula about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Maldon in the English county of Essex. The village is part of the Purleigh ward of the Maldon district.
The place-name 'Purleigh' is first attested in a charter of 998, where it appears as Purlea. In the Domesday Book of 1086 it appears as Purlai. The name means 'bittern clearing'.
An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches south to North Fambridge with a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 3,419.
At the time of the Domesday survey of 1086, the manor of Purleigh was held by Eustace II, Count of Boulogne (d.1087).
Having previously been possessed by the Grey and Capel families, in the late 15th century the manor was acquired by Hugh Denys (d.1511), Groom of the Stool to King Henry VII (1485–1509). He died without progeny and bequeathed the manor to his younger half-nephew John Denys of Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, in which family, having modernised the spelling of its name to "Dennis", the manor remained until the early 18th century. William Dennis, 5th in descent from John, died in 1701 and was buried at Pucklechurch. He was Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1689 and died without male issue, leaving two daughters as his co-heiresses. Mary (d.1739), the elder, married Col. James Butler, of the family of the Earls of Ormond, and Elizabeth the younger daughter married, as his second wife, Sir Alexander Cuming of Culter, Aberdeenshire. The manor was retained by both sisters jointly, but was occupied by the tenant John Leaver, and comprised the manor house called Purleigh Hall, a garden, orchard, 100 acres of land, 80 acres of meadow, 140 acres of pasture and 80 acres of woodland. It then passed, probably by sale, to William Neale, described as a "clerk" in a decree of the High Court of Chancery dated 29 January 1741, in an action brought by the nieces of Mary Dennis and by Cassandra Cuming, the daughter of Elizabeth Dennis and the representatives of the infant James Cuming.
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Wikipedia