However, there is known evidence of Iron Age[2] and Roman[3] occupation and activity in the surrounding countryside and it is known that Sweinn and Arnketill, two Anglo-Saxon noblemen held the manor prior to the Norman Conquest.

The industrial revolution brought the railways and coal mining to the area and along with it a need for housing and recreation.

On Barnsley Road there were a number of shops and the Empire Theatre, which is now an apartment block, though it does retain some of its obvious features externally.

Moorthorpe Cemetery sits alongside the church, with many elaborate monuments and paved walkways.

The majority of buildings in the village date from the late 19th and early 20th century and were built to accommodate the large number of employees at the local collieries.

For example, on the former main shopping street of Barnsley Road there is still some evidence of faux half-timbering, with a mock Tudor style facade still existing on the top half of a small number of buildings.

This is unlike most of the neighbouring town and parish councils, including South Elmsall, whose Councillors are elected directly by way of a public vote.

Moorthorpe forms part of the South Elmsall and South Kirkby ward, a ward of the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and which forms part of the governing Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.

Gabriel Price was formerly the elected Member of Parliament for the area, who had close ties to Moorthorpe.