MORLEY, a parish in the hundred of MORLESTON-and-LITCHURCH,
county of DERBY, containing, with
the chapelry of Smalley, and the township of Morley,
1000 inhabitants, of which number, 273 are in the
township of Morley, 4 miles (N. E.) from Derby. The
living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Derby, and
diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's
books at £ 13. 6. 8., and in the patronage of E. S. Pole;
H. S. Bateman, and T. S. Sitwell, Esqrs., alternately.
The church, dedicated to St. Matthew, is a large structure
with a lofty spire, in part built by Ralph Statham,
Esq., who died in 1380, and completed by his
widow Goditha: it contains several monuments of the
ancient famines of Statham and Sacheverellj and in
the north aisle are four windows of stained glass, curiously
designed, said to have been brought from Dale
abbey at the dissolution. There is an almshouse, founded
about 1657, by Jacinth Sacheverell, for six poor men,
each receiving £ 5 per annum. At Smalley is a schoolhouse,
built by John and Samuel Richardson, who, in
1721, endowed it for the instruction of twelve poor boys,
with lands now let for £ 88 per annum; the number of
scholars has been increased to twenty-eight. The latter
also gave £400 to purchase lands, now let for £40 per
annum, directing the rental to be applied towards the
support of fourteen infirm colliers of Smalley, Heanor,
and Horsley-Woodhouse.