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Morley, West Yorkshire

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Morley
Population27,738 (2001)
OS grid referenceSE265275
Civil parish
  • Morley
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLEEDS
Postcode districtLS27
Dialling code0113
PoliceWest Yorkshire
FireWest Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire

Morley is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Leeds city centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of 47,579 in the 2001 census.[1] The civil parish had a population of 27,738.

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

History

Morley means "Quim 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 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

Street map of Morley

Historically, Morley was the centre of one of two divisions of the wapentake of Agbrigg and Morley. Morley became a Municipal Borough in 1889 and under the Local Government Act 1972, was incorporated into the new City of Leeds Metropolitan District. Morley is represented on Leeds City Council by three wards (Morley North/Morley South and Ardsley/Robin Hood) each with three councillors. 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.[2]

A town council was established in 2000, though it no longer governs Drighlington, Gildersome, Tingley and East and West Ardsley - areas formerly part of the municipal borough.

Following a review of parliamentary representation in West Yorkshire, the Morley and Rothwell parliamentary constituency, represented by Colin Challen (Labour) is set to be abolished at the 2009/2010 election and be replaced by the new Morley and Outwood constituency.

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

Present

Morley Indoor Market
Queen Street

Morley Town Hall is sometimes used for music recordings, due to its excellent acoustics [citation needed]. It has also been used in television shows Heartbeat and Emmerdale, owing to there being a disused magistrates court inside the building and a cobblestoned street to one side. It also hosts concerts by local schools and performances by the Morley Amateur Operatic Society, whose pantomimes have taken place at the Alexandra Hall for many years.

The town is perhaps most notable as the home of Orbit[3] - one of the U.K's foremost clubs, which hosted the world's biggest techno, trance and hard house DJs.[4] During the late nineties, the club became a mecca of Northern rave culture until its sudden closure in 2003.

Three secondary schools serve 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 at numerous sites in the town.

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

There are three main supermarkets in Morley, a Morrisons in the town centre, an Asda to the south side of Morley and a Sainsbury's at the White Rose Centre which lies on the outskirts of Morley, towards Beeston and Holbeck

Morley, is one of the main settings for the critically acclaimed and award winning David Peace's Red Riding Quartet novel and 2009 television series which explore West Yorkshire police corruption during the 1970s and 1980s.

Sport

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).

Twin towns

Notable people

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

References

  1. ^ "Census 2001". National Statistics. 2001.
  2. ^ "BNP boss aired 'race hell' views". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-01-18.
  3. ^ http://www.theorbituary.com/showthread.php?t=313
  4. ^ http://www.theorbituary.com/showthread.php?t=3172
  5. ^ www.historytoherstory.org.uk/index.php?targetid=106&PHPSESSID=9eb18421e154484f2b81649b470aadf6
  6. ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deadly-game-inside-story-Michael/dp/0946064083/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242169653&sr=8-1
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