SOUTH DARLEY, (or WENSLEY) is a parish, formed 20 Aug, 1845, from Darley, and comprises the hamlets of Wensley (1 mile from Daley Dale station), Oakerside, Darley Bridge, Cross Green, and Snitterton; and is 153 miles from London and 4 north-west from Matlock, in the Western division of the county, hundred and county court district of Wirksworth, Matlock district of Wirksworth petty sessional division, Bakewell union, and in the rural deanery of Bakewell, archdeaconry of Derby and diocese of Southwell. The parish is connected with North Darley by a bridge over the Derwent, and was governed by a Local Board from 1863 until the "Local Government Act, 1894" (56 and 57 Vict. c.73), established an Urban District Council.

The church of St. Mary, erected in 1843, is a building of stone, in the Norman style, consisting of a chancel, nave of one bay and a tower on the south-west, containing one bell: the chancel was added in 1886 and further restoration was carried out in 1891 at a cost of £1,300, when a stained window, presented by Mr. Joseph Taylor, of Manchester. in memory of his father and mother, and another memorial window has been erected by Mr. C.K. Hall to his mother: there are 220 sittings. The register dates from the year 1845. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £128, including 10 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the rector of Darley, and held since 1893 by the Rev. Edward Augustus Hadfield. There is a Wesleyan chapel at Wensley, and a Methodist Free church at Oakerside, built in 1854. The Oakerhill and Cross Green inclosure charity of 97 acres, let at £160 yearly, is applied in part payment of the poor rates, the ratepayers paying the remainder. The parish participates with North Darley in Garratt's and Gisborne's charities. Ann Phynney's charity now consists of four cottages in Wensley Dale for the poor widows. In the parish is a lead mine, one of the richest in the kingdom.

Eversley is the residence of Myles Atkinson Sleigh esq. Mrs. Killick is the principal landowner, and Frederic C. Arkwright esq. of Willersley, is lord of the manor. The soil is loam; subsoil, limestone. The land is chiefly in pasturage. The area is 1,959 acres; rateable value, £4,375; the population in 1891 was 754, chiefly employed in mining.

Parish Clerk, Charles Allison.

The reading room and library at Wensley was built in 1891 by Mr. Joseph Taylor, of Manchester, at a cost of £1,000; the library contains upwards of 500 volumes (Job Taylor, librarian).

Post, M.O.O., S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Wensley.- Miss Mary S. Harrison, receiver. Letters are delivered at Wensley by postman from Matlock Bath about 9.40 a.m. (Cross Green & Darley Bridge about 9 a.m.); dispatched at 6 p.m. week days only. Winster is the nearest telegraph office.

Letter Box at Bridge Town, cleared at 6.30 p.m; Oakerhill, at 7 p.m.
[Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, 1895]