LEA, or THE LEA, is a small parish and village, pleasantly situated on the main road between Ross and Gloucester, and on the Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester branch of the Great Western railway, the Mitcheldean Road station on that line being situate in this parish. It is distant 4½ miles E.S.E. of Ross, 11½ N.W. of Gloucester, and 18 S.E. of Hereford; is in Greytree hundred, Ross union, petty sessional division, and county court district, and Linton polling district. Part of Lea was in Gloucestershire until 1844, and the township was divided into Lea Hereford, and Lea Gloucester; but by the Acts of 2 and 3 William IV., cap. 64, and 7 and 8 Vict., cap. 61, it was added to Herefordshire. The population in 1861 was 226; in 1871, 199, viz., Lea Upper civil parish, 112, and Lea Lower civil parish, 87. The inhabited houses in Lea Upper were 28, and Lea Lower, 18; total, 46. The families or separate occupiers in Lea Upper were 31, and Lea Lower, 21; total, 52. The area of Lea Upper is 532 acres, and the rateable value £1,140. The area of Lea Lower is 170 acres, and the rateable value £367. Total area of the ecclesiastical parish, 702 acres. Mrs. Davies is lady of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is loamy; subsoil, marl and rock; chief produce, wheat, barley, roots, &c. The Lea is in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol, archdeaconry of Gloucester, and rural deanery of the Forest; living, a vicarage; value, £85, with residence and 2 acres of glebe; patron, the Vicar of Linton (Rev. Edward Palin, B.D.); vicar, Rev. William David Hall, M.A., late Fellow of New College, Oxford, who was instituted in 1853.' The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is a handsome old red sandstone building in the style of architecture of the 14th century. It consists of tower, with spire, three bells, nave, chancel, north aisle, porch, font, &c. The north aisle is terminated by a chapel, probably erected by the family of Grey of Wilton, whose arms are placed there. The church was restored in 1854, and fitted with open seats, at a cost of £800, defrayed by subscription. The earliest register is dated 1588. The charities amount to about £6 yearly. The parochial school for boys and girls is a well-designed building, situate near the church.