page_title: Great Leighs
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Great Leighs / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Spring by the side of the road (Cole Hill) Great Leighs, Essex. TL739157.
context_page_description: Great Leighs is a village in the City of Chelmsford district of Essex, England, halfway between Chelmsford itself and Braintree. It is part of the parish of Great and Little Leighs.
context_section_description: Great Leighs is the location of arguably the oldest Inn in England. The Castle was called the St. Anne's Castle until its temporary closure for refurbishment at Easter 2015. It was on the junction of Main Road and Boreham Road. Another Pub, the Dog & Partridge, is at the other end of the village, on Main Road.
  The full history of The Castle has been lost. However, it is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and claims to be the oldest licensed premises in England, as it served ale to the pilgrims travelling to Thomas Becket's tomb in the 12th Century. It has been an alehouse since the Middle Ages although at some point it was an hermitage.
  The current state of the exterior is due to a fire over a hundred years ago which destroyed the original thatched roof, which was replaced with tiles. Inside, timbers date back hundreds of years. Down in the cellars are remains of tunnels, which reputedly linked the inn with the nearby Leez Priory, and Great Leigh's church.
  At The Castle, various references can be read on the walls that tell more of the history. Local folklore also tells that the inn is haunted by the troubled spirit of a witch burned at the stake and buried beneath a stone at the nearby crossroads.
  In December 2009, a £730,000 project to renovate the Village Hall was completed. It was aided by money associated with a new housing development within the village, extensive fund raising and help from funding bodies and Essex County Council.
  The incumbent priest during the First World War, Andrew Clark, kept a voluminous diary of the war detailing activities, opinions and rumours in the village and nearby. An edited version of the diary was published in 1985 under the title Echoes of the Great War.
  In the 2014 BBC series Britain's Great War Jeremy Paxman visits St Mary's Church, Great Leighs, and he describes the early loss of Captain Alan Tritton and brothers Privates Richard (Dick) and Arthur Fitch. He speaks with their niece, Valerie Frost.
  There is a spring by the side of the road at Cole Hill on Boreham Road, near Great Leighs Church. It once had a lion's head over the outlet.TL739157
caption: Spring on Cole Hill
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