Morley, West Yorkshire

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Coordinates: 53°44′36″N 1°35′51″W / 53.74343°N 1.597394°W / 53.74343; -1.597394

Morley
Morley Town Hall, a Grade I listed building
Morley shown within West Yorkshire
Population	47,579 (2001)[1]
OS grid reference	SE265275
Metropolitan borough	City of Leeds
Metropolitan county	West Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LEEDS
Postcode district	LS27
Dialling code	0113
Police	West Yorkshire
Fire	West Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
European Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
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.

[edit] 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 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.

[edit] Governance

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.

[edit] Present

Morley Indoor Market

Queen Street

Morley Town Hall is sometimes used for music recordings, due to its excellent acoustics. 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. Following a controversial speech at Morley Town Hall in 2004, BNP leader Nick Griffin was tried on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred. All charges were subsequently dropped.^[2]

The town is also notable as the home of Orbit^[3] - one of the U.K's foremost clubs, hosting the worlds biggest techno, trance and hard house DJs^[4] before it's sudden closure in July 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 Middleton.

[edit] 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).

[edit] Twin towns

• Siegen, Germany, since 1966.

[edit] Notable people

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

• British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith
• Sir Titus Salt, the creator of Saltaire
• Alice Scatcherd, 19th century pioneer for women's rights and philanthropist who donated Scatcherd Park and Morley Hall to the town^[5]
• 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 Bramley, brought up in East Ardsley from a very young age).
• Brian Turner, celebrity chef
• Ben Kaye, Harlequins RL Player
• Nick Scruton, Bradford Bulls player
• Lee Smith, Leeds Rhinos player
• Jonathan Howson, Leeds United player
• Andrew Sheldon, author of the acclaimed Deadly Game^[6].

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Morley Town Council
• West Yorkshire Archaeology Service
• "The Ancient Parish of Batley". GENUKI. http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Batley/index.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.  Morley was in this parish
• Morley Community Archives