Risley in the Domesday Book (1086)

The 1086 Domesday survey records the settlement of Risley, entered under the hundred of Morleystone in Derbyshire. The survey assessed Risley at 1.1 carucates of taxable land.

The survey records Risley’s value at 1 shilling in 1086. No pre-Conquest figure survives – not unusual in the North, where records were disrupted by the Harrying and by the patchy coverage of the survey.

Resources Recorded at Risley (1086)

• Woodland: 20 pigs

Other Settlements in Morleystone

• Bradley
• Breadsall
• Breaston
• Cellesdene
• Chaddesden
• Codnor
• Crich
• Denby
• Derby
• Draycott
• Duffield
• Hallam
• Heanor
• Herdebi

The Meaning of the Name

The name Risley 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 Risley.

Listed Buildings Near Risley

Historic England records 18 listed buildings within about a mile of Risley. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II*

• Latin College and the Latin Cottage - 0.5 km
• The Old School House - 0.5 km
• Latin House - 0.52 km
• Balustrades, Gateway and Bridge on Terrace to South East of Risley Hall - 0.53 km
• Church of All Saints - 0.55 km

Grade II

• Bobbin Milepost East of Risley Grammar School (Sk 4635 3574) - 0.4 km
• Risleyhall Farmhouse and Attached Barn - 0.48 km
• Walls to Front of the Latin House and Latin College - 0.48 km
• The Grammar School - 0.48 km
• Churchyard Walls, Gates and War Memorial to South of All Saints Church - 0.54 km
• Pair of Chest Tombs 15 Metres South of South Door to All Saints Church - 0.54 km
• Church Cottage - 0.56 km
• Garden Walls and Gateway to North of Risley Hall - 0.58 km
• Pair of Matching Urns to East of Garden Front of Risley Hall - 0.59 km
• Brook House - 0.59 km
• Risley Hall and Attached Garden Wall - 0.6 km
• Dr Bland’s Almshouses - 1.26 km
• Dr Bland’s Almshouses - 1.28 km

Risley Today

Today Risley lies within the administrative area of Erewash, and the settlement recorded a population of 735 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 Risley on Wikipedia .

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• Sandiacre - 1.4 km NE
• Stanton -by-Dale - 2.0 km N
• Hopwell - 2.2 km NW
• Breaston - 2.2 km SW
• Draycott - 2.8 km SW
• Long Eaton - 3.6 km SE