1068 Domesday - Dartmoor
Dartmoor is 369 square miles of ' wasteland ' & wilderness
called DARTMOOR FOREST once a a hunting ground of the kings of England
Dartmoor has evidence of settlements far back into history as the late Neolithic & Bronze Age
Over several thousand years the mild climate of the Bronze Age deteriorated and people moved into the hills around the moor leaving the moorlands with a greatly reduced numbers of settlements by the 11th century
The following are some of the Domesday settlements on Dartmoor that can still be found on the ground
There is the Exon Domesday held by Exeter Cathedral - This is an edition, translation, facsimile, description and resource for the study of Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3500 (Exon Domesday), the earliest extant manuscript of the Conqueror's survey. The project explores how and why the Domesday survey was made.
SCORBITOR or SCOBITOR in the hundred of Kerswell
Land held by Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances (Normandy)
16 villagers. 8 smallholders. 8 slaves.working 18 ploughlands. 3 lord's plough teams. 10 men's plough teams. On 0.5 lord's lands. 5 acres of Meadow; 50 acres of Pasture; 60 acres of Woodland & a (corn) mill, value 10 shillings :
livestock 1 cob, 30 cattle. 7 pigs. 85 sheep. 5 goats. Annual value to lord: £14 in 1086. (That was a very high value property)
Before the Normans the manor was owned by : Edric & 15 thanes
In 1066 Tenant-in-chief was Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances.
Lord of the Manor in 1086: Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances; with 15 thanes .
(Thanes - men who held land granted to them by the king or by a military nobleman ranking between an ordinary freeman and a hereditary noble.
Other places held by the same Lord
Adoneboui (Little Bovey), Wermehel (Warmhill), Scobatora (Shaptor), Ailauesfort (Elsford), Olueleia ((Woolleigh), Hauocmora (Hawkmoor), Harleia (Hatherleigh), Polebroc (Pullabrook).
and Brungerstone (considered to be outlying land in what is now Widecombe in the Moor parish but not clearly identified ) the word brunger is French for brown
Brungerstone apparently Identified by VCH Devon, with 'Bawtor' or Bottor but without evidence; (Victoria Country History at IHR (Not found by AJP on a cursury search of VCH site
BUT I did find Bottor Rocks Farm is just south west of Hennock,
TDA identifies it tentatively with ?? Lyscombe. Listed buildings has Bottor Rocks farm house as C16th or C17th
Nearby Warmhill listed II* has an early medieval core with 16th century farm buildings
https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101097386-warmhill-farmhouse-hennock#.YDOh3pL7RcA
Mentioned in the Domesday Book, this 100-acre working farm with its thatched farmhouse is now a holiday cottage
WIDECOMBE-IN-THE-MOOR, sometimes spelt Widdecombe, or Withecombe-in-the-moors, 6 miles N.W. by N. of Ashburton. Its parish is a detached member of Haytor Hundred, and contains 10,614 acres of land, including the hamlets, &c., of Cator, Ponsworthy, Poundsgate, Linchaford, Fernhill, Dunstone, Blackslade, Lower-Tor, and about 4700 acres of open commons, called Newbridge, Blackdown, Natsworthy, Jourdan,
HOUNDTOR in the hundred of Teignbridge had a recorded population of 6 households in 1086, putting it in the smallest 40% of settlements recorded in Domesday.
The land was held by the Abbey of St Mary & St Rumon Tavistock (Landlords)
2 villagers. 2 smallholders. 2 slaves. 4 ploughlands. 1 lord's plough teams. 1 men's plough teams. 0.25 lord's lands. 9 acres of Meadow 1 league of Pasture and 2 acres of Woodland with 7 cattle. 28 sheep. 18 goats. With an annual value to the lord:£1 in 1086.
Tenant-in-chief before 1066: Tavistock Abbey In 1086: Tavistock Abbey of St Mary & St Rumon
Lord in 1086: Reginald.
A league a measure of land generally accepted as 3 statute miles (4.83 km), although varying lengths from 7,500 feet to 15,000 feet
BAGTOR was held by Nicholas the bowman after 1086
Households: 6 villagers. 2 smallholders. 1 slave.
Ploughland: 5 ploughlands. 1 lord's plough teams. 4 men's plough teams.
Other resources: 0.06 lord's lands. 1 Pasture of 0.5 leagues. 3 acres of Woodland with 5 cattle. 3 pigs. 35 sheep. 15 goats.
Annual value to lord: 1 pound in 1086; 15 shillings when acquired by the 1086 owner.
Held by Ordric.before the Conquest
Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Nicholas the bowman. Who held land directly from the Crown.
Lord in 1086: Roger. The immediate lord over the peasants who paid tax to the tenant-in-chief.
DEWDON On the High moor not far from Jordon Manor farm near Widecombe on the Moor
was held by Land of William of Falaise ( of Normandy) who had 18 villagers. 6 smallholders. 14 slaves.
Ploughland: 13 ploughlands. 5 lord's plough teams. 7 men's plough teams.
Other resources: 1.0 lord's lands. Meadow 15 acres. Pasture 50 acres. Woodland 50 acres.
Livestock in 1086: 1 cob. 8 cattle. 159 sheep. 42 goats.
Annual value to lord: 3 pounds in 1086; 3 pounds when acquired by the 1086 owner.
Lord in 1066: Alric.
Tenant-in-chief in 1086: William of Falaise. Lord in 1086: William of Falaise.
DEWDON : Only exists as a named location with archaeological evidence which can be identified on the ground.
74/9/9/3 (Record Office Collection). SDV309691.
A document dated 1602 conveys the Manor of Dewdon Malet from John Malet of Enmore to Richard Langworthy
at Schullestone and Deadone or Deaudon - Dewdon very ancient near Widecombe on the Moor. Shirlstone Manor an ancient settlement . long owned by the Savery family near Modbury with Holbeton close by on the south coast
South West Heritage Trust, 1838-1848, Digitised Tithe Maps and Transcribed Apportionments (Cartographic). SDV359954.
Large, irregularly shaped building shown on the Tithe Map at Jordan; 990 on the apportionment 'House, Yard etc.'.
https://www.mallettfamilyhistory.org/tng/mfh-hist/M08H01%20Dewdon%20Manor.pdf
Dewdon & Jordon Manor are mentioned together in Heritage Gateway & are close together on the high moor; & Jordon is a farmhouse with a huge pond - often a sign of a monastic grange , whilst Dewdon has remnants with postholes and foundations but not longer has a dwelling
PDF of nearby Jordon Manor at foot of page Historic England Entry
the whole area is Awash with images and ancient history!! https://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/hutholes.htm
Dartmoor Nestled between the bosom of Rowden Ball and Dunstone Down is the ‘deserted medieval village’ of what today is known as ‘Hutholes. The term ‘village’ is probably doing the settlement huge injustice as once it was an ancient manor dating way back into the long-lost mists of time.
The consensus of opinion tends to be that Hutholes was the old manor of Dewdon which originally appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Depdona. Firstly the place-name, Hutholes was at one time one the field name in which the settlement lies. In 1963 a report on the ‘Abandoned medieval sites in Widecombe-in-the-Moor’ was published in that year’s Transactions of the Devonshire Association.
It noted; “South Rowden or Hotholes – The small deserted village lies in an acre of waste ground known as Old Walls… this was the site of a holding known as South Rowden…” The report then goes on to say; “As the buildings are all comparatively small, this may have been a villein’s settlement near the manor of Dewdon in which it lies. This site is to be surveyed in the near future and an excavation arranged to obtain dating for its period.”........
https://www.google.com/maps/@50.5669076,-3.8475129,2770m/data=!3m1!1e3
Widecombe on Moor close by here
