The Leghs of Lyme were a gentry family seated at Lyme Park in Cheshire, England, from 1398 until 1946, when the stately home and its surrounding parkland were donated by the 3rd Lord Newton to The National Trust.

Leghs of Lyme
Lyme Park, the former seat of the Legh family
Language(s)English
Origin
Region of originCheshire, North West England
Other names
Variant form(s)Lee, Legh, Leigh
Burke's Peerage & Baronetage and Burke's Landed Gentry

Since the Middle Ages various spellings of this ancient surname have been used : Legh, a Lee, Leghe, Leigh and Leyghe; there were also variations on Peter, eg. Piers and Peers, the family's most oft-used given name.[1] The first Sir Piers Legh, of Lyme, was knighted in 1397 and assumed as a coat of arms those of his mother, Matilda de Norley, in lieu of his ancient patrilineal Leigh arms.[2]

For ease of distinguishing between the earlier generations, it became customary to append a Roman numeral to the various Leghs' names; in this case the numbering system is as used in The National Trust Handbook for Lyme Park.

List of the Leghs of Lyme

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The heraldic achievement of the Barons Leigh, differenced arms from those of the Leghs of Lyme.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Ormerod, George (1882), Thomas Helsby (ed.), The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester (2nd ed.), London: George Routledge and Sons, pp. iii:676–678
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Waterson, Merlin (1975), Lyme Park, National Trust, pp. 5–8
  3. ^ East Cheshire Past and Present by J.P. Earwaker, London, 1877
  4. ^ A History of the Church, St Michael's Church, Macclesfield, archived from the original on 25 July 2008, retrieved 2 November 2008
  5. ^ Cambridge Camden Society (1846). Illustrations of monumental brasses. Cambridge: J.T. Walters. p. 95.
  6. ^ "Lyme Park Cheshire".
  7. ^ a b Groves, Linden (2004), Historic Parks & Gardens of Cheshire, Ashbourne: Landmark, pp. 50–57, ISBN 1-84306-124-4
  8. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Edward Hubbard (2003) [1971], The Buildings of England: Cheshire, New Haven & London: Yale University Press, pp. 259–263, ISBN 0-300-09588-0
  9. ^ Harrington, Peter, "Colonel Thomas Peter Legh, Lancashire Light Dragoons, c. 1795," Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol. LXV, No. 261, Spring 1987, pp. 1–4
  10. ^ Lyme Park, The Heritage Trail, archived from the original on 28 August 2008, retrieved 2 November 2008
  11. ^ NEWTON, Baron, Burke's Peerage & Gentry, retrieved 2 November 2008
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