The town is named after the River Leach that joins the Thames near the Trout Inn and St. John's Bridge.

The low-lying land is alluvium, Oxford Clay and river gravels and the town is surrounded by lakes created from disused gravel extraction sites, forming parts of the Cotswold Water Park; several have now been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and nature reserves.

Human occupation dates from the neolithic, Iron Age and Roman periods and it developed as a trading centre served by river, canal, roads and railway, although the station closed in 1962.

[3] There are several archaeological remains of dwellings from the Iron Age and Roman periods, which have now been scheduled as an ancient monument.

[12] Although in Gloucestershire, and traditionally in the hundred of Brightwells Barrow, from 1894 till 1935 the town was administered as part of Faringdon Rural District in Berkshire.

[16] The Edward Richardson & Phyllis Amey nature reserve consists of marsh and reedbeds which attract dragonflies and birds such as grey heron and great crested grebe.

[18] Lechlade is the highest town to which the River Thames is navigable by relatively large craft including narrowboats.

In the early eighteenth century goods unloaded in Bristol were transported to Gloucester, carried overland to Lechlade and sent down the Thames to London.

The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley composed A Summer Evening Churchyard here[22] which includes the lines Clothing in hues of heaven thy dim and distant spire Around whose lessening and invisible height

Gather among the stars the clouds of nightThe town is a popular venue for tourism and river-based activities.

Behind the Town Hall are large playing fields, an astro turf pitch, a skate park and a playground.

The squadron's membership consisted of young people from Lechlade and neighbouring towns such as Fairford and Faringdon.

[33] The church contains a Monumental brass of John Twynyho (died 1485), set into his ledger stone on floor of north aisle.