The Honourable Mary Leigh was the older sister of Edward Leigh, 5th Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh and was, together with her uncle, appointed his guardian in 1774, when he was declared to be insane. He was confined to Stoneleigh Park until his death in 1786, had no children and left the estate to his sister.
She was a great local benefactor and, as well as providing much of the funding for the building of the new church in 1790, had two new bells cast in 1793.
The 1793 bells, awaiting their return to the belfry after
On her death in 1806, the Stoneleigh estate passed to James Henry Leigh of Adlestrop, with a life interest to his uncle, The Reverend Thomas Leigh. “When the Rev Thomas heard of his inheritance, his cousin Cassandra Austen and her daughter, the novelist Jane Austen, were staying with him; together they visited Stoneleigh” (historicengland.org.uk).