DARLEY, a parish partly in the hundred of
WIRKSWORTH, but chiefly in the hundred of HIGH-PEAK,
county of DERBY, 3 miles (N.W.) from Matlock, containing,
with the hamlet of Winsley with Snitterton, which
is in Wirksworth hundred, 1830 inhabitants. The living is
a rectory, comprising the mediety of North Darley, rated
in the king's books at £9. 13. 1., and the discharged
mediety of South Darley, rated at £9. 13. 0., which
were united in 1774; it is in the archdeaconry of Derby,
and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, endowed with
£2000 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of
the Dean of Lincoln. The church, dedicated to St.
Helen, is partly of Norman architecture. There is a
school with a small endowment for the education of poor
children. Fairs for cattle and sheep are held on the
moors in this parish, May 13th and October 27th. Darley
is in the honour of Tutbury, duchy of Lancaster,
and within the jurisdiction of a court of pleas held at
Tutbury every third Tuesday, for the recovery of debts
under 40s. A Benedictine abbey was founded here in
the reign of Henry I., or in that of Stephen, to the
honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the annual revenue
of which, at the suppression, was valued at £258.13. 5.