Virley

Virley is a small village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It lies south of Colchester. Virley closely adjoins the neighbouring village of Salcott, from which it is separated by Virley Brook, also known as Salcott Creek. The two settlements are sometimes described as one village called Salcott-cum-Virley; they have formed a single ecclesiastical parish called Salcott Virley since 1879. At the 2021 census the civil parish of Virley had a population of 64. Virley shares a grouped parish council with the neighbouring parishes of Great and Little Wigborough, Peldon, and Salcott, called the Winstred Hundred Parish Council.

==History== In the Domesday Book of 1086 a manor called Salcott was listed in the ownership of a Robert of Verly. By the 14th century a larger village also called Salcott had been established on the opposite of the brook. To distinguish the two, the older Salcott north of the brook became known as Salcott Virley and later just as Virley, whereas the newer Salcott south of the brook became known as Salcott Wigborough, on account of it being in the parish of Great Wigborough. Salcott Wigborough eventually just became known as Salcott.