Morley, Derbyshire
Historical Description
Morley, a township and a parish in Derbyshire. The township lies 2¼ miles E of Little Eaton railway station, and 4½ NE of Derby, and has a post office under Derby; money order and telegraph office, Smalley. Acreage, 1853; population, 298. The parish contains also the township of Smalley, and comprises 3571 acres; population, 1222. Stainsby House, Broomfield, the Hall, and Smalley Hall are chief residences. Traces exist of a Roman road called Ryknield Street. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Soutlrwell; gross value, £500 with residence. The church is partly in the Decorated English style, was completely restored in 1850 y comprises nave, aisles, chancel (which was reseated in 1884), and pinnacled tower; and contains some brasses and old monuments of the Stathums and the Sacheverells, and several stained windows. The township of Smalley was formed into a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1877. There are a Wesleyan chapel and six endowed almshouses.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Derbyshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Morley St. Matthew | |
Hundred | Morleston and Litchurch | |
Poor Law union | Belper |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The Phillimore transcript of Marriages at Morley 1540-1837, Derbyshire, is available to browse online.
Ancestry.co.uk, in conjunction with the Derbyshire Record Office, have the Church of England Baptisms (1538-1916), Marriages and Banns (1538-1932), and Burials (1538-1991) online.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Morley from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Morley (St. Matthew))
Land and Property
A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Derbyshire is online.
Maps
Online maps of Morley are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Derbyshire papers online: