Smalley, Derbyshire


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.
Its name came from Anglo-Saxon Smæl-lēah = "narrow woodland clearing". Smalley is part of the Borough of Amber Valley and has its own Parish Council.

History

Smalley was mentioned in a Charter of 1009 by King Æþelræd Unræd relating to a manor known as Westune 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.
Smalley's Parish Church of St John the Baptist was built in the late eighteenth 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 with 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

Stainsby Hall Cricket Club have their ground at the end of St. John's Road in Smalley and have been playing in the Derbyshire County League first division since 2008. The name comes from the fact that they used to play their matches on a pitch in front of the now-demolished Stainsby House, just over the parish border in Horsley Woodhouse, but just a few hundred yards away from their current ground.