Leeds Parish, covering much of Northern and Central Fauquier County, was established in 1769 by action of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and has been in continuous existence since then. Services continued throughout the Revolutionay War as its clergy supported the colonies in that conflict. Its boundaries orginally encompassed several churches. The present building, the Episcopal Church of Leeds Parish, was consecrated by Bishop William Meade in August 1842.   

Leeds Parish has often been a witness to history. The church building was occupied during the Civil War by Northern and Southern soldiers; one wall was pierced by an artillery shell from a nearby hostile engagement. Lee and Longstreet's troops marched past (on what is now Route 688) on their way to the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg. Confederate General Turner Ashby was a member of the parish. Dr. James Markham Ambler, a communicant of the parish, lost his life in the Jeannette Artic Expedition of 1881 because of his heroic refusal to leave his dying patients. Dr. Ambler is buried in Leeds Cemetery and his grave is marked by a stone column erected in his memory by the U.S. Navy.