Manley in the Domesday Book (1086)

Manley is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Ruloe in Cheshire.

Other Settlements in Ruloe

• Aldredelie
• Alvanley
• Conersley
• Done
• Dunham [on the Hill]
• Eddisbury
• Elton
• Frodsham
• Hartford
• Helsby
• Ince
• Kingsley
• Thornton [le Moors]
• Weaverham

The Meaning of the Name

The name Manley is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word lēah, a woodland clearing or glade. The first element is most likely a personal name or an early descriptive term, now difficult to recover with certainty. Taken together the name probably meant something close to ‘a clearing’.

Remarkably, the name has changed little since 1086, when the Domesday scribes wrote it as Manley.

Listed Buildings Near Manley

Historic England records 6 listed buildings within about a mile of Manley. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II

• Mouldsworth Hall - 0.81 km
• Poplargrove Farmhouse - 0.94 km
• Roman Catholic Church of St Cuthbert by the Forest, including detached campanile - 1.01 km
• Stonehouse Farmhouse - 1.12 km
• Dovecot 45 Metres East of Manley Old Hall - 1.17 km
• Manley Knoll - 1.26 km

Manley Today

Today Manley lies within the administrative area of Cheshire West and Chester, and the settlement recorded a population of 599 at the 2021 census. Nine and a half centuries separate that figure from the small rural community the Domesday survey recorded here in 1086.

Read more about modern Manley on Wikipedia .

Nearby Domesday Settlements

Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:

• Ashton - 2.0 km S
• Alvanley - 2.2 km NW
• Dunham on the Hill - 3.2 km W
• Cocle - 3.6 km SE
• Great and Little Barrow - 4.5 km SW
• Helsby - 4.5 km NW