Morley is a market town suburb and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. It is south-west of Leeds City Centre. A population of 47,579 was recorded by the 2001 census; this included also Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and West and East Ardsley. By the census definition, Morley is larger than Pontefract, Castleford, Batley and Keighley. It is in the LS27 (Leeds (Morley)) postcode area, while the telephone numbers area code is "0113", the Leeds prefix.

Morley, like Rome, is built on seven hills: Scatcherd Hill, Dawson Hill, Daisy Hill, Chapel Hill, Hunger Hill, Troy Hill and Banks Hill.

History

Morley means "wood by a moor", from Old English mor "moor" + leah "wood, clearing". The name was recorded as Morelige in 1156. The -ley in the place name is typical of this section of West Yorkshire, alluding to a forest (now gone) that was around in medieval times.

Morley, mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book as Morelege, Morelei and Moreleia, is traditionally famous for its textile industry, notably the cloth "Shoddy", which was worn by both sides in the American Civil War.

Schoolgirl Sarah Harper was murdered by Robert Black in Morley in 1986, giving the town brief, national notoriety.

A fuller description of the history of the town is provided by the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service and Morley Community Archives - see external links below.

Governance

The town's Municipal Coat of Arms features the symbolic principal industries of the Municipal Borough: Manufacturing of Woollen Cloth, Coal Mining and Quarrying.

Morleians were strongly opposed to their Borough's incorporation into the new City of Leeds Metropolitan District in 1974. In 2000 a town council was established, partially reversing this situation, although the council no longer governs Drighlington, Gildersome, Tingley and West and East Ardsley. The former Morley Municipal Borough area also includes the smaller villages of Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and West and East Ardsley. Historically, Morley was the centre of one of two divisions of the wapentake of Agbrigg and Morley; the Morley division included Bradford and Huddersfield.

Morley is represented on Leeds City Council by three wards for the Morley area. They are: Morley North; Morley South and Ardsley; and Robin Hood. Each ward has three Councillors in it.

In May 2006 the electoral ward of Morley South voted for a councillor from the British National Party. The town had previously faced negative publicity following a controversial speech in 2004 by BNP leader Nick Griffin at Morley Town Hall where he allegedly aired racist views. Griffin was later unsuccessfully tried on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred following the speech.

Morley is currently in the Morley and Rothwell parliamentary constituency, represented by Colin Challen (Labour); after boundary changes it will be in the new Morley and Outwood constituency.

Morley today

Morley Town Hall is sometimes used for music recordings, due to its excellent acoustics. It has also been used in the television shows Heartbeat and Emmerdale, due to its having a disused magistrates court in the building and a cobblestoned street to one side. The town hall is also used by schools for concerts and also by its own Operatic Society (Morley Amateur Operatic Society) who have been performing their pantomimes in the main Alexandra Hall for a number of years now.

Three main secondary schools take in pupils from Morley: Morley High School (formerly Morley Grammar), Bruntcliffe High School and Woodkirk High School (technically in West Ardsley but has a large proportion of students from Morley due to its catchment area). The Joseph Priestley College offers Further Education and has one of its sites in Morley.

Morley railway station is half a mile from the town centre.

Twin towns

• Siegen, Germany, since 1966.

Notable people

Natives of the town refer to themselves as Morleians. Famous Morleians include:

• British Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith
• Sir Titus Salt, the creator of Saltaire
• Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones' Diary
• Leigh Francis, comedian best known for "Bo Selecta!" and "A Bear's Tale"
• Vincent Mulchrone, famous Fleet Street feature writer, UK Press Gazette Top 40 British journalists
• Ernie Wise, of Morecambe and Wise fame (born in East Ardsley)
• Brian Turner, celebrity chef

Sports

Morley R.F.C. was founded in 1878 and was a member of the Northern Union. When the Northern Union clubs broke away from the RFU to form what is now rugby league, the Morley representatives missed the train to Huddersfield as they were still in the pub. The club's heyday was in the 1970s where they won the Yorkshire Cup on five occasions. Some of this glory was recaptured in April 2005 when the club won the Powergen Intermediate Cup at Twickenham.

The town also has a cricket club (whose team plays in the Bradford League), along with a football club (Morley Town) and Rugby league club (Morley Borough).

References

External links

• Morley Town Council
• West Yorkshire Archaeology Service
• The Ancient Parish of Batley. GENUKI. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.. Morley was in this parish
• Morley Community Archives