Morley Town

Morley is a town in the county of Yorkshire (since 1974, West Yorkshire), England, in Leeds Metropolitan Borough and is situated five miles south-west of Leeds City Centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of

approximately 50,000.

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

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

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

Sir Titus Salt, the creator of Saltaire
British Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith
Beryl Burton (World Champion racing cyclist)
Helen Fielding, author of Bridget Jones' Diary
Leigh Francis, comedian best known for "Bo Selecta!" and "A Bear's Tale"
Alice Scatcherd, 19th century pioneer for women's rights and philanthropist who donated Scatcherd Park and Morley Hall to the town
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.

Schoolgirl Sarah Harper was murdered by Robert Black in Morley in 1986, giving the town brief, unwanted, national noteriety.

Morley has a twin town, Siegen in Germany.

Morley is traditionally famous for its textile industry, notably the cloth "Shoddy", which was worn by both sides in the American Civil War.

The town's rugby club 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.

Three main secondary schools take in pupils from Morley: Bruntcliffe High School, Morley High School (formerly Morley Grammar) and Woodkirk High School (technically in West Ardsley but has a large proportion of students from Morley due to its catchment area).

Morleians were strongly opposed to their Borough's incorporation into the new Metropolitan District of Leeds in 1974 but not until 2000 was local democracy restored, when a town council was established, but only for part of the borough. Historically, Morley was the centre of one of two divisions of the wapentake of Agbrigg and Morley; the Morley division included Bradford and Huddersfield.

Recently the electoral ward of Morley South voted for a councillor from the facist British National Party and the town has faced negative publicity following BNP leader Nick Griffin's controversial 2004 speech 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.

Morley Town Hall

Morley Town Hall is the town hall for the Town of Morley, West Yorkshire. It is a Grand Building, With a Clock Tower. Its Main Steps Have a Colonnade with a Roman Freize on the tympanum, including a depiction of morley Railway tunnel which runs under the Town centre from Morley Low to Batley stations. It is situated on Queen Street in the centre of Morley. It bears a strong resemblance to Bolton Town hall, being designed by the same architect. Morley Town Hall is the most striking building in the town, dominating the town centre. It is sometimes used for music recordings, due to its excellent acoustics.

Morley Town Hall and Celebrations

At Christmas, the Christmas lights are turned on from a control panel on a platform at the top of the grand steps And the surrounding fir trees are usually covered in large gold boubles; which in the exceptionally windy december 2005 were blown into the bus shelter ajancent to the building.

On the 5th of November (Bonfire Night) The fireworks are set off over the roof of the town hall.

At these celebrations there is usually a band, a celebrity and quite a few attractions, usually a mini ferris wheel, children's rides etc. and trinkets on sale. In 2005, local Community Radio (Morley FM) Breakfast presenter Danny Mylo entertained the crowd and helped switch on the lights with the Real radio breakfast crew.

The Clock Tower

The towns only previous clock had been blown from the top of the Local Board Offices during a gale some twenty years previously and the people of Morley were very much in favour of the new clock, which would be seen for miles around. The clock was finally set going on 20th April 1895 and for years it would be known as 'Sam Rhodes Clock' named after Councillor Samuel Rhodes who set about installing the clock. The Clock Chimes the Westminster Chimes, Made famous by Big Ben in London. It has gained a reputation in recent years for being rather unreliable and public access is no longer possible, the reasons given being health & safety. The belfry also still contains the wartime air raid siren.