Show ContentsWereley History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Today there are three villages and towns in Essex by the name Warley: Great Warley in the Brentwood borough; Little Warley, a hamlet in south Essex; and Warley, a suburb of Brentwood. It is from this area that this surname was derived. In West Yorkshire, Warley Town can be found, near Halifax and in the West Midlands, Warley is a place in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell.

Early Origins of the Wereley family

The surname Wereley was first found in Essex where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, having prevailed over King Harold, granted most of Britain to his many victorious Barons. It was not uncommon to find a Baron, or a Bishop, with 60 or more Lordships scattered throughout the country. These he gave to his sons, nephews and other junior lines of his family and they became known as under-tenants. They adopted the Norman system of surnames which identified the under-tenant with his holdings so as to distinguish him from the senior stem of the family. After many rebellious wars between his Barons, Duke William, commissioned a census of all England to determine in 1086, settling once and for all, who held which land. He called the census the Domesday Book, [1] indicating that those holders registered would hold the land until the end of time. Hence, conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Warley, held by the Norman noble Humphrey from the Bishop of London who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086.

Early History of the Wereley family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Wereley research. Another 131 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1066, 1201 and 1475 are included under the topic Early Wereley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Wereley Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Warley, Warly, Warleigh, Warlea, Werley and others.

Early Notables of the Wereley family

More information is included under the topic Early Wereley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Wereley family

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Matthew Warley, who arrived in Maryland in 1676; Owen Warley, who was on record in Nova Scotia in 1783; Daniel Warley, who was naturalized in Pennsylvania in 1740.


Contemporary Notables of the name Wereley (post 1700) +

  • Steve Wereley, American Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University


  1. Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)


Houseofnames.com on Facebook