Marley village

The earliest reference to Marley is in Boldon Buke (1183 survey of land belonging to the Bishop of Durham, Hugh du Puiset), where Merleia is recorded as rendering 1 mark, and attending the great chase with one greyhound, but being free of other services. In 1384, with the manors of Gibside and Hedley, it left the first Merley family, but in 1415 reverted to the second, who held Gibside (and hence Marley) until 1540. The estate eventually passed to the Earls of Strathmore. There is no medieval information about the village which is traditionally sited at High Marley Hill.