Wortley appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Staincross in Yorkshire.

Other Settlements in Staincross

The Meaning of the Name

The name Wortley 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 Wortley.

Listed Buildings Near Wortley

Historic England records 26 listed buildings within about a mile of Wortley. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade I

Wortley Top Forge - 1.22 km

Grade II*

Wortley Hall With Attached South-front Terrace and Steps Including Attached Retaining Wall and Steps to Wing Set Back on Left - 0.64 km

Grade II

Church of St Leonard - 0.14 km
Crossbase With Sundial Pedestal Approximately 10 Metres to South of Porch to Church of St Leonard - 0.15 km
6, Halifax Road - 0.15 km
Ivy Cottage - 0.17 km
Wortley Arms - 0.18 km
Gatepiers and Attached Railings at South West End of the Avenue - 0.25 km
Top Lodge - 0.27 km
The Old Vicarage with attached wall and gateway on west side of forecourt - 0.38 km
Gatepiers and Attached Railings at North East End of the Avenue - 0.49 km
Outbuilding to Rear Right of Stable Block to Wortley Hall Including Swift Cottage and Garvins Cottage - 0.5 km
Outbuilding to Rear Left of Stable Block to Wortley Hall Including Garden Cottage - 0.51 km
Stable Block to Wortley Hall - 0.52 km
Ice House Approximately 150 Metres to South West of Wortley Hall - 0.58 km
Milepost at Junction With Woodhead Road - 0.63 km
Arbour at South End of Western Terrace of Garden to South Front of Wortley Hall - 0.67 km
Circular Pool With Lining and Statue at Centre of Garden to South Front of Wortley Hall - 0.67 km
Balustraded Retaining Wall Across East Front of Wortley Hall - 0.69 km
Terrace Steps and Retaining Walls to Gardens of South Front of Wortley Hall - 0.69 km
Numbers 1 and 2 Well Houses - 0.81 km
Milepost at Mill Moor Plantation - 0.89 km
Two Cottages Adjoining and to South of Wortley Top Forge - 1.22 km
Top Forge Cottage - 1.25 km

…and 2 more listed structures in the area.

Scheduled Monuments Near Wortley

Scheduled monuments are nationally important archaeological sites given legal protection. 3 lie within roughly a mile of Wortley:

Romano-British settlements at Finkle Street - 1.0 km
Wortley Top Forge - 1.27 km
Water powered bloomery, iron forge and rolling mill at Low Forge - 1.51 km

Wortley Today

Today Wortley lies within the administrative area of Barnsley, and the settlement recorded a population of 687 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 Wortley on Wikipedia .