Old Leake is first documented in the Domesday Book, where it is referred to as 'Leche'. It had a minimum population of 32 sokemen, 40 villeins, 16 bordars and 2 'count's men'. There were 34 acres of meadow, and 26 salt-pans. {1} The name Leake is derived from the Old English word for 'brook' though it may have been replaced by a similar Old Norse word with the same meaning. {2} The Lay Subsidy of 1334 lists the parish's wealth as £21 0s 0d, slightly above average for that wapentake. {3} 127 households are listed in the Diocesan Returns of 1563. {4} By the late 17th-early 18th century there were 174 families in the parish, falling to 155. This included 5 Quakers and 2 Anabaptists. {5} In 1801 the population of the parish was listed as 911, peaking at 2062 in 1851 then declining to 1660 by 1901. {6}