Darley Abbey is a former historic mill village, now a suburb of the city of Derby, in the ceremonial county of Derbyshire, England.

He donated the churches of Uttoxeter and Crich, an oratory and cemetery at Osmaston, and tithes from his property in Derby and land in Oddebrook and Aldwark.

Around 1160, Hugh, the rural dean of Derby, donated his land at "Little Darley" to St Helen's Priory for the establishment of the monastery.

[1] The reason was that by donating to the abbey, Ralph could deprive the Jewish money-lenders of what he owed them, as Jews could not seize church property.

[1] Another, however, blames the Abbot of Darley, who is accused of "selling the woods and wasting the goods and leasing the lands of the abbey, to its great impoverishment".

After then, throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, a series of water powered mills – for corn, flint, leather and paper – were developed on land between Darley Street and the west bank of the River Derwent.

The site contains five main mills and a comprehensive range of ancillary structures, including warehouses, offices, stables, bobbin shops and domestic buildings.

[11] The weirs on the River Derwent created the head of water which powered the wheels that drove the machinery in the mill buildings.

[12] Since 2010, the focus of the Darley Abbey Mills has shifted away from light industrial uses towards customer facing entertainment and retail and other commercial office uses.

[13] The industrialist Thomas Evans developed cotton mills on the east side of the River Derwent at Darley Abbey and, between 1792 and 1826, effectively provided a new village of over 130 houses for his workers.

It was cheering to view the neatness and comfort of the houses, the honey-suckles, jessamines, and roses growing in front, and the domestic occupations of persons who, in the same employment, in worse conducted establishments, live in filth, rags and squalid misery.

Then, Walter Evans, one of the family who owned the mills, paid for the building of St Matthew's Church with a small contribution from a central government fund.

[17][18] Because of the historical significance of Darley Abbey, much of the village has been designated as a conservation area and, as such, it is subject to enhanced development controls.

[19] Darley Abbey is also part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site which stretches from Matlock Bath to Derby.