An alternative theory is that the name Tunaley is derived from Norman origins, an area in Lancashire which was originally known as Tunleia following the Norman Conquest. This area became Towneley, with land owned by the Towneley family, but other offshoot derivations appeared to have arisen in people's names such as Richard de Tunlay and Edmund Touneley.

Click here for www.burnley.gov.uk/towneley/downloads/TTv4_web.pdf

 

The possibility that the name Tunaley is derived from or associated with the name Tunley is also highlighted by the work carried out by Paul W. Tunaley regarding one Godfrey "Tunaley".

 

Meanwhile, it seems alternative spellings of Turneley, Turnely, Turneleye appeared in significant numbers in Chipping Lancashire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Chipping being a small town of Norman origin.

These name derivatives also appear in Eccleshall, Stafford (there are Tunaley links with the coalfields of Staffordshire) and areas North and North East of Derby which includes Wingerworth.

Moreover, a Turneley family of presumably Flemish origin is recorded as living in Great Longstone village, Derbyshire in the early eighteenth century.
The village cross dates back to a time when Flemish weavers settled in this
part of Derbyshire and established a stocking industry.

The frequency of the name Turneley or its derivatives in the 15 and 1600's contrasts with the name Tunaley not appearing on records until the eighteenth century and perhaps suggests a simple dropping of the "r" which had crept into the spelling.