Moorends is located on the edge of Thorne Moors, part of the Humberhead Levels, at an elevation of around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) above sea level.[4] The moors can be accessed via Grange Road. The village grew up with housing being built to house the miners working in Thorne Colliery, which was developed in the village.[1] Before the coal mine was sunk, the area was largely farmland with only a handful of houses.[5] A missionary church was provided by the owners of the coal mine during the colliery's development (c. 1912, however, a permanent church, St Wilfrith's, was built in 1934, and this became its own parish in 1956.[6]
The legendary goalkeeper Ted Sagar was born in Moorends in 1910. It is also home to one public house.