Morley is a village and civil parish within the

Borough of Erewash Erewash () is a local government district with borough status in Derbyshire, England, to the east of Derby and the west of Nottingham. The population of the district as taken at the 2011 Census was 112,081. It contains the towns of Ilkeston, ...

in Derbyshire, England. It is on the eastern side of Morley Moor, with Morley Smithy to the north. The parish church of St Matthew is a grade I listed building and stands near the (converted) Tithe Barn and dovecote of Morley Hall. The church features a wall of stained glass depicting the story of

Robert of Knaresborough Robert of Knaresborough (St. Robert, born Robert Flower, 24 September 1218) was a British hermit who lived in a cave by the River Nidd, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. His feast day is on the 24th of September. Life He was born Robert Flowe ...

along the north aisle which came from Dale Abbey in 1539, home of the fine Sacheverell tombs.

History

Morley is first certainly mentioned in 1009, as ''(in) Moreleage'', though later copies of a 1002 document in which it appears as ''(æt) Morlege'' may be genuine. The name probably means "open ground by a moor", from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

''mōr'' " moor, clearing, pasture" + lẽah "open ground, clearing". In 1009 Æþelræd Unræd (King Ethelred the Unready) signed a charter at the Great Council which recognised the position and boundaries of Westune.Aston on Trent Conservation Area History
, South Derbyshire, accessed 25 November 2008 The land described in that charter included the lands now known as Shardlow, Great Wilne, Church Wilne, Crich, Morley, Smalley, Weston and

Aston-on-Trent Aston-on-Trent is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district, in the county of Derbyshire, England. The parish had a population of 1,682 at the 2011 Census. It is adjacent to Weston-on-Trent and near Chellaston, very close to the ...

. Under this charter Æþelræd gave his minister, Morcar, a number of rights that made him free from tax and to his own rule within the manor. Morley was mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de FerrersHenry was given a large number of manors in Derbyshire including Doveridge,

Swarkestone Swarkestone is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 187. Swarkestone has a very old village church, a full cricket pitch, a plant nursery/ garden centre and re ...

, Sinfin and Breadsall. and having woodland pasture that was four furlongs by three.''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. p.745

Morley Park Morley Park is an area within Heage, in the parish of Ripley in the English county of Derbyshire, north of Derby. It is about five miles north of the village of Morley itself. At the Norman Conquest it was within the wapentake of Morleyston. In ...

was one of the seven royal parks within Duffield Frith and is about five miles north in the parish of

Ripley Ripley may refer to: People and characters * Ripley (name) * ''Ripley'', the test mannequin aboard the first International Space Station space station Dragon 2 space test flight Crew Dragon Demo-1 * Ellen Ripley, a fictional character from the Ali ...

Education

Broomfield Hall of Derby College is located in Morley.ダービー日本人補習校（Derby Japanese School）
." Derby Japanese School. Retrieved on February 14, 2015. " c/o Derby College Broomfield Hall, Morley Ilkeston, Derby DE7 6DN UK" Derby Japanese School (ダービー日本人補習校 ''Dābī Nihonjin Hoshūkō''), a Japanese weekend school, holds its classes in Broomfield Hall.

Notable residents

Sir Streynsham Master who was involved in the early East India Company and who was High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1712, resided with his wife at Stanley Grange in Morley.

Joseph Whittaker Joseph Whittaker (1813 – 2 March 1894) was a British botanist who visited South Australia in 1839. Whittaker has 300 plants from that trip in Kew Gardens and a large collection of pressed British plants in Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Biogr ...

(1815–1892), botanist, lived and died here. Edward FitzWalter Wright, vice-Chairman of the Butterley Company and High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1942 lived at Morley Manor.Who's Who 1951

References

{{authority control Villages in Derbyshire Civil parishes in Derbyshire Borough of Erewash