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Ulley homepage, pop c 500 (1991 census) |
Ulley is a quiet village on high ground with a good view of the surrounding landscape and villages. If the quiet life is what you are after, then this place is for you. It consists of a country pub\restaurant, a Church, and a few farms and houses. The hamlet of Brampton en le Morthen 1 mile to the east is also part of the parish of Ulley. The GenUK website has a snippet of the 1822 equivalent of the yellow pages listing Trades and Professions in 1822.
Its main claim to fame is the local reservoir that hosts a wildlife haven, a fishing pond, and a dinghy sailing club. Ulley Reservioir made the national news in 2007 during the floods of June. The earth dam was badly erroded by the rains and the risk of it failing caused the M1 motorway to be closed for several days.
Ulley also boasts an environmentally friendly woodland burial site on the road to Aston.
This village has the best name origin of the lot - Ulley is apparently derived from 'Olleie', or in Saxon English an forest-glade with owls, although the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English place names gives it as the Old English wulf-leah or wolf wood; either way it has a nice ring to it. It is listed in the Domesday book (1086), and was given to the Earl of Mortain after the Norman Conquest in 1066. Some centuries later the Lord of the Manor was one Sir Thomas Tempest. In 1379 according to the poll tax records the village was headed by John de Ullay a 'frankeleyn' or freeholder.