Smalley
Civil parish
Church Hall, Smalley.
Smalley is located in Derbyshire
Smalley
Smalley
Location within Derbyshire
Area2.71 sq mi (7.0 km2)
Population2,784 (2011)
• Density1,027/sq mi (397/km2)
OS grid referenceSK407446
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Settlements
Smalley
  • Heanor Gate
  • Smalley Green
  • Woodside
Post townILKESTON
Postcode districtDE7
Dialling code01332 + 01773
PoliceDerbyshire
FireDerbyshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
Websitesmalleyparishcouncil.co.uk

Smalley is a village on the main A608 Heanor to Derby road in Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 2,784.[1]

Smalley is part of the borough of Amber Valley and has its own parish council. Smalley village is central west within the wider parish area which contains other villages - Heanor Gate to the far north which merges into the town of Heanor, Smalley Green south of Smalley and Woodside to the far south. Facilities in the area include a primary school at Smalley, and a college and industrial estate at Heanor Gate.

History

Smalley's name came from the Anglo-Saxon Smæl-lēah = "narrow woodland clearing".[2] It was mentioned in a charter of 1009 by King Æþelræd Unræd ("Ethelred the Unready") relating to a manor known as Westune (modern-day Weston-on-Trent)[3] which land included the areas now known as Shardlow, Great Wilne, Church Wilne, Crich, Smalley, Morley, Weston and Aston-on-Trent. Under this charter Ethelred gave his minister, Morcar, some exemptions from tax.[4]

Smalley's Parish Church of St John the Baptist was built in the late 18th century on the site of a much earlier church. The transepts were added in 1844 and the unusual and almost detached tower was added some years later. A 7th-century Saxon cross is part of the porch. The bell tower was built to house five bells donated by Rev. Charles Kerry and the chime of five bells is said to be the heaviest in England, the largest bell weighing over 2 tons. The parish church hosts occasional street parties for the residents of Smalley.

Its pub, the Bell Inn, was voted "Best Derbyshire Pub of 2006".

Sport and leisure

Cricket

Stainsby Hall Cricket Club have their ground at the end of St. John's Road in Smalley[5] and have been playing in the Derbyshire County League since the mid-1930s.[6] The club takes its name from the now-demolished Stainsby House just over the parish border in Horsley Woodhouse a few hundred yards from their current ground,[7] and records show that the club played in front of the old house from as early as 1863.[8]

Stainsby Hall Cricket Club currently have three senior teams competing in the Derbyshire County Cricket League[9] and a long-established junior training section that play competitive cricket in the Erewash Young Cricketers League.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Civil parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Smalley :: Survey of English Place-Names". epns.nottingham.ac.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  3. ↑ Aston on Trent Conservation Area History Archived 2007-11-08 at the Wayback Machine, South Derbyshire, accessed 25 November 2008
  4. ↑ Charter of Æthelred, The Great Council, 1009, accessible at Derbyshire Records Office
  5. ↑ "Stainsby Hall Cricket Club". stainsbyhall.play-cricket.com. Stainsby Hall CC. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  6. ↑ Derbyshire Marston's Pedigree County Cricket League Centenary Yearbook. Derbyshire: Derbyshire County Cricket League. 2019. p. 124 & 179.
  7. ↑ Stainsby House Archived 2015-04-03 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on November 5, 2013
  8. ↑ Lacey, Simon; Higginbottom, Chris; Whittington, Tom (2004). Derbyshire Cricket Grounds A Post-War Survey. Derbyshire: Simon Lacey. p. 123. ISBN 0-9547056-0-2.
  9. ↑ "Derbyshire County Cricket League". DCCL. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  10. ↑ "Erewash Young Cricketers League". EYCL. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
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