Morley is a small village about five miles NE of Derby. The church lies to the E of the village and is a coursed squared gritstone structure with gritstone dressings. The building consists of a chancel, a nave, a S aisle, a N aisle added in 1380, a S porch, and a W tower added to the structure in the early 15thc. The only Romanesque feature here is the S arcade.

The Domesday Survey does not record a church in 'Morelei'; in 1086 the manor was under the lordship of Henry of Ferrers, having been held in 1066 by Siward Barn. In the late 11thc Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester, granted the manor to the Abbey of St Werburgh at Chester. By the end of the 13thc the Priory of Breadsall also held a land in Morley.