Morley Park

Coordinates: 53°02′18″N 1°26′09″W / 53.0384°N 1.4359°W / 53.0384; -1.4359

Morley Park
the furnaces
Morley Park  Morley Park shown within Derbyshire
District	Amber Valley
Shire county	Derbyshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	RIPLEY
Postcode district	DE5
Police	Derbyshire
Fire	Derbyshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
List of places: UK • England • Derbyshire

Morley Park is an area within the parish of Ripley in the English county of Derbyshire, north of Derby. It is about five miles north of the village of Morley itself.

At the Norman Conquest it was within the wapentake of Morleyston. In the reign of Henry II it was within the newly created Forest of East Derbyshire.

When the area was disafforested in 1225, it may have been taken over when William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby extended Duffield Frith to include the manor of Bradley, now part of Belper. In 1266 the area became part of the Duchy of Lancaster.

It was an enclosed area, one of the seven royal parks within the Frith. Adjacent to it was the smaller Belper or Lady Park.^[1]

In the nineteenth century Morley Park was the site of iron smelting furnaces, some of which have been preserved and can be seen from the A38 road.

References

1. ^ Turbutt, G., (1999) A History of Derbyshire. Volume 2: Medieval Derbyshire, Cardiff: Merton Priory Press