Butleigh

Butleigh was mentioned in the Domesday Book, belonging to Glastonbury Abbey. It had two separate entries, with the names Bodeslege and Boduchelei.{{cite web|title=Butleigh|work=Open Domesday|access-date=22 August 2019|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/ST5233/butleigh/}}{{cite web|title=St Leonard's Church, Butleigh|work=A Church Near You|access-date=22 August 2019|url=https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/10974/about-us/}}

The parish of Butleigh was part of the Whitley Hundred.{{cite web|title=Somerset Hundreds|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/|publisher=GENUKI|access-date=22 October 2011}}

Butleigh Court, which was abandoned for many years and has now been brought back into use, is noted for its interesting architecture including the tall carved chimney stacks, which are all different. Another interesting landmark is the cedar avenue, just outside the village. It was built in 1845 by J. C. Buckler, for Henry Neville-Grenville, on the site of an earlier building.{{NHLE | desc= Butleigh Court | num=1058743 | accessdate=24 October 2007}}

The village history is told in a slim book, Butleigh: One Thousand Years of an English Village, by E. F. Synge, a former vicar at the parish church. A reconstruction of life of one farm worker, John Hodges, who lived in the village during the Victorian era, is illustrated at the Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury.

There is the lofty column on the nearby Combe Hill of the Admiral Hood Monument raised to the memory of Sir Samuel Hood on a hill near Butleigh, and in Butleigh Church is another memorial,{{NHLE | desc= Hood family monument | num=1175612 | accessdate=24 October 2007}} with an inscription written by Robert Southey.

Although closed since 2021, the village is home to a 16th-century pub called The Rose and Portcullis. Efforts to find a new tenant have so far proven futile.

The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with the local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also the responsibility of the council.

For local government purposes, since 1 April 2023, the parish comes under the unitary authority of Somerset Council. Prior to this, it was part of the non-metropolitan district of Mendip (established under the Local Government Act 1972). It was part of Wells Rural District before 1974.{{cite web|title=Wells RD|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10061581|work=A vision of Britain Through Time|publisher=University of Portsmouth|access-date=4 January 2014}})

The village forms part of the 'Butleigh and Baltonsborough' Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom. From Butleigh the ward goes east to Baltonsborough then south to Lydford-on-Fosse. The total population of the ward as at the 2011 census was 2,198.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/butleigh-and-baltonsborough-e05006763#sthash.s6hH2Ri1.dpbs|title=Butleigh and Baltonsborough ward 2011|access-date= 7 March 2015}}

It is also part of the Glastonbury and Somerton county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one member of parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

File:St Leonard Butleigh.JPG, Butleigh, Somerset]]

The Church of St Leonard dates from the 14th century, and was restored and extended in the middle of the 19th century by J. C. Buckler. It has been designated as a grade II* listed building.{{NHLE | desc= Church of St. Leonard | num=1058773 | accessdate=24 October 2007}}

Butleigh Cross is a Medieval Wayside cross base (14-15th century) and is incorporated in the 20th century war memorial.

• William Robert Cornish (1828–1896) was a British physician who served in India for more than thirty years and became the Surgeon-General—head of medical services—in the Madras Presidency.{{Citation | last = Obituary | title = Surgeon-General Cornish C.I.E. | journal = The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health | year = 1897 | volume = 18 | pages = 656–61 | doi=10.1177/146642409701800412}}

1st Viscount Admiral Hood

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Butleigh}}

• [http://www.butleigh.org/ Butleigh family History]
• [https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=df12c326-5f79-4a82-9487-4b103d83e04f&resourceID=19191/ Heritage Gateway entry on the War Memorial (medieval cross - base only)]

Category:Villages in Mendip District

Category:Civil parishes in Somerset