Ulley is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

of the

Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its largest town, Rotherham, but also spans the outlying towns of Maltby, Swinton, Wath-upon-Dearne, Dinnington and also the vill ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 172. It is located about south of the town of Rotherham and east of

Sheffield City Centre Sheffield City Centre (referred to locally as simply Town) is a district of the Sheffield, City of Sheffield and is covered partly by the City ward, Sheffield, City ward of the City of Sheffield. It includes the area that is within a radius of ...

History

Excavations in Ulley have revealed the course of a probable Roman road running north–south through the village. Other Roman finds in the village include coins and a fragment of Samarian ware. The earliest written record of Ulley is in the

Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086, where it is referred to as ''Ollei''. The name is

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 ...

in origin but of uncertain meaning. It may derive from ''wulf'' (wolf) or ''Ulla'' (a Saxon personal name) and ''lēah'', meaning a meadow. Alternatively, it may mean 'woodland clearing frequented by owls'. Following the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

in 1066, Ulley was among the lands given to the Earl of Mortain. Later, the village passed into the hands of the

Priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

a starfish site, designed to act as a decoy and attract German bombers bound for Sheffield,

Templeborough Templeborough (historically Templebrough) is a suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The suburb falls within the Brinsworth and Catcliffe ward of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The area takes its name from the remains of the ...

steel works and marshalling yards at Rotherham, was built near to Ulley. During the Second World War, a German

bombing raid Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematic ...

for Sheffield dropped bombs on a set of cottages situated on Main Street where houses 5–7 are now. The bombs hit the cottages but failed to detonate. When the army arrived to deal with the unexploded bombs, they retired to the pub to decide what to do, and while they were there the bombs exploded, demolishing the cottages.

Governance

Ulley is a civil parish and local issues are governed by a Parish Council, one of 29 such councils in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham. It is in the Rother Vale Ward of the Borough, which is represented on the Borough Council by Georgina Boyes, Gerald Nightingale, and John Swift, all members of the Labour Party. This ward is part of the Rother Valley parliamentary constituency, and was represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

by MP

Kevin Barron Sir Kevin John Barron (born 26 October 1946) is a British Labour Party politician and former coal industry worker. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rother Valley from 1983 until 2019. Early life Kevin John Barron, the son of Richard ...

of the Labour Party who held the seat from 1983 until he retired in 2019.The seat for the first time in history was secured by the Conservatives in the general election in 2019 to an MP who lives in London.

Demography

At the time of the

United Kingdom 2001 Census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

the population of Ulley civil parish was 183 people. Below is a table outlining population change of the parish since 1881.

Landmarks

Holy Trinity Church is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

in the village that was built in 1851. It is now run as a

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

with All Saints Church,

Aston cum Aughton Aston cum Aughton is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 13,961 according to the 2001 census. It consists of the villages of Aston and Aughton, along with Swallownest. To ...

and Christ Church,

Swallownest Swallownest is a village in the civil parish of Aston cum Aughton and the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The village is south of Rotherham and from Sheffield. Swallownest borders the Sheffield suburb of Woodhous ...

. Ulley Country Park is a park a few hundred yards to the west, downhill of the village. The park incorporates Ulley reservoir, which was built in 1871 and used to provide approximately 180 million gallons of water per year to Rotherham. By the 1980s, the reservoir was not needed for water supply and was on standby only. It was sold to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council for the token sum of £1 and the reservoir and surrounding land were designated a country park. On 25 June 2007, during the

2007 United Kingdom floods A series of large floods occurred in parts of the United Kingdom during the summer of 2007. The worst of the flooding occurred across Scotland on 14 June; East Yorkshire and the Midlands on 15 June; Yorkshire, the Midlands, Gloucestershire, Here ...

, cracks in the reservoir walls were found after heavy rains in the area, causing concerns that the reservoir might burst.

Transport

Ulley is located just off the A618 and close to the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which lat ...

. Bus services provided by Powells Bus Co. link the village with Rotherham Town Centre and Maltby. The closest mainline railway stations are at

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, Rotherham Central and Meadowhall.

References and notes

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in South Yorkshire Civil parishes in South Yorkshire Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham