[2] Great Wyrley is mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name of Wereleia, and as early as 1086 is said to have been indirectly owned by the Bishop of Chester St John's as part of the "somewhat scattered holdings" of the Church of Saint Chad in Lichfield.

Some 480 acres (190 ha) of farming land were, assumingly, evenly distributed between Wyrley and nearby Norton Canes.

In 1848 Samuel Lewis included the settlement in his gazetteer and stated it had: In 1876 Shapurji Edalji was appointed Vicar of Great Wyrley; he served until his death forty-two years later.

In October, a local solicitor and son of the parson, George Edalji,[5] was tried and convicted for the eighth attack, on a pit pony, and sentenced to seven years with hard labour.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame was persuaded to "turn detective" to prove the man's innocence.

Poison pen letters in the name of the "Wyrley Gang" continued for another twenty-five years, but these were subsequently discovered to have been posted from outside the town by Enoch Knowles of Wednesbury, who was arrested and convicted in 1934.

[6] This case has been related or retold: There are two representatives on Staffordshire County Council, Conservatives Kath Perry and Mike Lawrence[9] whose physically large ward is called Cheslyn Hay, Essington and Great Wyrley.

There are five representatives on South Staffordshire District Council: Ward Great Wyrley has been a safe Conservative seat since at least 1983.

In 2022, plans were approved for a new housing development on the Landywood Lane green belt, despite objections from local residents.

Landywood railway station provides services south to Birmingham New Street and north to Rugeley Trent Valley.

[22] The farmhouse dates from the early 16th century and has a timber framed core on a sandstone plinth and a tile roof.