The Domesday Survey
The Domesday Survey in the local area
William the Conqueror commissioned a survey of England at Christmas in 1085, almost twenty years after the battle of Hastings. It was carried out the following year and provides a description of the state of the whole land both prior to and following the Norman conquest. It was an amazing undertaking for its time with nothing else like it in Europe for many centuries and we can still see the results in the Domesday Book today. It came to be known as Domesday because for many years it was the final authoritative register of rightful possession as well as the basis for tax assessment. Like the Day of Judgement ‘its verdicts [were] just as unanswerable’.
An extract from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
“Then sent he his men over all England into every shire and had them find out how many 100 hides there were in the shire, or what land and cattle the king himself had in the country or what dues he ought to have in the twelve months from the shire. He also recorded how much land his archbishops had and his bishops and his abbots and his earls, how much each man who was a landholder in England had in land or livestock and how much money it was worth.”
The Domesday Hundreds of Cestrescire
Under the late Anglo-Saxons the country had been efficiently administered, being divided into shires which in turn were divided into administrative units called hundreds with their own courts. It was these courts that provided much of the local information on land holdings, both before and after the conquest and in 1086, so it is possible to see how much change there had been. Landed estates, called manors, are named with their tenants, the amount and type of land held and the number of people occupying the land (villeins, smallholders, free men, slaves, etc.), together with the value of the land, its assets and tax assessment.
Atiscross
a.Unhidated
b.Hidated
Bochelau
Cestre
Dudestan
Exestan
Hamestan
Midestvic
Riseton
Roelau
Tunendune
Warmundestrou
Wilaveston
In the local area around Pulford the survey of ‘Cestrescire’ (Cheshire) included, in the Dudestan hundred, Pulford, ‘Poytone’ (Poulton), ‘Eclestone’ (Eccleston), ‘Etone’ (Eaton) and ‘Ferentone’ (Farndon). Dudestan later became Broxton hundred, with some small changes of boundary. Temporary Norman control of part of the kingdom of Gwynnedd meant two Welsh hundreds, Atiscross and Exestan, were also included in the Cheshire survey. Atiscross later formed a major part of Flintshire, while Exestan now forms part of Wrexham. At that time, ‘Dodestone’ (Dodleston) was in Atiscross, but was later moved into Broxton. Exestan included ‘Gretford’ (Gresford) and ‘Alentune’ (Allington) which was in the area between Rossett and Trevalyn.
The Earl of Chester
Much of the north of England rebelled against the conquest by the Normans. This included Cheshire that rose in revolt in 1069 and was harshly dealt with the following year by William who had already destroyed much of Yorkshire in the so-called ‘Harrying of the North’.
Before 1066 all land in Cheshire had been held by Earl Edwin of Mercia and Anglo-Saxon thanes or the Church. Edwin had been killed by some of his followers while fleeing to Scotland in 1071 and all lands were appropriated by William. Locally, Earl Edwin had held Dodleston, Eaton and Farndon.
William needed a strong individual in charge of Cheshire, not only to prevent further rebellion but also to handle the sensitive border with Wales. Initially he installed Gherbod, a Flemish nobleman, as the new Earl of Chester but he did not last long and in 1071 was replaced by William’s young relative, Hugh d’Avranches, usually known as Hugh Lupus (Wolf). From that time, apart from what was held by the church, all land in the shire was held by Earl Hugh from the king. This put Earl Hugh in an unusually powerful position, with the authority and resources not only to defend the border but to extend the Norman Conquest into North Wales. He was also able to act in place of the king in granting many of the shire’s manors to 25 of his barons as well as appointing sheriffs and receiving revenues from the estates that would otherwise have gone to the king.
Although Chester had been quite wealthy, paying tax on 50 hides, when Earl Hugh acquired it its value was only £30 ‘for it was thoroughly devastated’. Of the 500 houses standing in the city before the conquest, 205 were destroyed and by 1086 there were 'as many as he found there', which presumably means the houses had not been rebuilt. Some of them would have had to make way for the new castle, although this is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. By the time of the survey Chester was paying £45 in revenue and '3 timbers of marten-skins'. Earl Hugh's total land holding across the country was 354 manors with a value of £1,056.
The size of Chester's population is not recorded as was sometimes the case with larger towns. However, there is a list of local laws, including the punishments for breaking the King’s peace, bloodshed, killing, robbery, and unlawful intercourse, as well as giving false measure and making bad beer.
Examples of Laws and fines in Chester (in shillings):
Breaking the King’s peace: 100s
Bloodshed:
Mon am to Sat noon: 10s
Sat noon to Mon am & Holy days: 20s
Killing:
Holy days: 80s
Other days: 40s
Unlawful intercourse:
by Widows: 20s
by Girls: 10s
Robbery/theft: 40s
Violence to a woman: 40s
Giving false measure: 4s
Making bad beer: put in dung-stool or 4s
Outside Chester
Cheshire as a whole was the poorest and least populated of the West Mercian shires. Apart from Chester itself there were no towns of any size. Of the local villages included here, Farndon was the largest with 34 households. Industries that are mentioned across the shire are: salt, mining, fishing and milling; with the corresponding occupations of: miller, smith, ploughman and fisherman.
Locally, Earl Hugh held Eaton himself. The two barons who held the most manors in this area as tenants under him were Hugh Fitz Osbern (Pulford, Gresford, Allington) and Osbern Fitz Tezzo (Dodleston, Gresford). They appear to have been close although not related as once thought. (Osbern Fitz Tezzo's son was named Hugh, making him also Hugh Fitz Osbern). They both held further manors elsewhere in Cheshire (about 10 each in total) and Lincolnshire. Richard Pincerna (Butler) held Poulton along with another manor in Dudestan called Calvintone, but it is not known where that was. Eccleston was held by Gilbert de Venables with 11 other manors and Farndon was held by Bigot de Loges along with 14 other manors in Cheshire.
The church, in the form of the Bishop of Chester at St. John’s and the canons of St. Werburgh’s, held land in Farndon and Pulford respectively. There was also a church and priest recorded at Gresford.
The Welsh border was the only area in England where waste is recorded for 1066. This would have been land that was uncultivated and depopulated, quite likely due to military activity, and therefore not liable for tax. Gresford is recorded as ‘all waste’ in 1066. Many more areas in the north were ‘wasted’ after 1066 and Eccleston, Farndon, Pulford and Allington all ‘had waste’ when acquired by their current tenants. One of the purposes of the survey was to identify where it was possible to cultivate more land and extract increased value but it appears that much of the land had not recovered by 1086.
The unit of tax assessment, dating from Anglo-Saxon times, was the ‘hide’ which was notionally defined as the amount of land required to support a household. This was about 120 acres, but by this time was a more general assessment based on land, people and other assets. The measure of cultivated land was the ‘ploughland’ which was the area that could be ploughed by a team of eight oxen in a season, also about 120 acres, although both measurements could vary greatly depending on the quality of the land.
Apart from cultivated land most manors had meadowland measured in acres and several had woodland measured in leagues (about 1.5 miles). There was a fishery at Eaton while Eccleston had a boat and a net. Gresford had a mill.
Local Survey Data
The table shows, for the different manors, their size, in terms of cultivated land and households, and their growth in value. Data on Allington is uncertain as it is joined with two other manors, but it appears to have been waste although paying tax on 3 hides. For estimates of total population the number of households are normally multiplied by a factor of 4 or 5.
Notes:
Edwin of Poulton and Edwin of Ecclestone may not have been the same person and were unlikely to have been Earl Edwin.
The date of 1066 is referred to as 'in the time of King Edward' who died in 1066; King Harold who followed Edward the Confessor is not mentioned in the Domesday Book as William did not regard his claim to the throne as valid.
A hide was the unit of tax assessment (see above).
A villager or villein was the level of unfree peasant with greatest allocation of land.
A smallholder or 'bordar' was the next level of peasant below a villein.
A rider or 'radman' rode as an escort with his feudal lord.
A Frenchman was a Norman settler with the status of a freeman.
A 'plough' or 'caruca' was a measure of land (see above).
References:
Domesday Book, Vol. 26 Cheshire (ed. Philip Morgan), Phillimore, 1978.
Hull Domesday Project (www.domesdaybook.net).
Entries from the Domesday Book
Entries for each manor are listed by the lord who currently holds the estate and then by hundred. Each entry has a similar structure:
the current holder;
the previous holder in 1066; 'T.R.E.' refers to the time of King Edward the Confessor who died in 1066;
the tax assessment;
the amount of cultivated land;
the number of each type of householder with the number of ploughs held;
any additional assets;
whether the land had any waste;
the value in 1066 and currently.
The text is in abbreviated Latin but also uses several standard Anglo-Saxon and Viking terms.
The entries for Pulford and Poulton show that Poulton was much larger than Pulford in terms of land, population and value.
Pulford
Pulford has two entries.
In Dudestan HD.
Ipsa ecclesia tenet Pulford, et tenuit tempore R. Edwardi. Ibi dimidia hida geldabilis. Terra est una caruca, ibi est cum uno villano, et uno bordario. Valebat IV solidos, modo v solidos.
In DUDESTAN Hundred.
This Church [of St. Werburgh] holds Pulford and held it in the time of King Edward [before 1066]. There is ½ hide taxable. The land is one plough. There is one villager and one smallholder. The value was 4 shillings; now 5 shillings.
[In Dudestan HD.]
Isdem Hugo [filius Osberni] tenet Pulford. Uluric tenuit sicut liber homo, ibi una hida et dimidia geldabilis. Terra est una caruca, et ibi est cum ii radmans, et uno villano, et ii bordariis. Wasta fuit haac terra, modo valet v solidos.
The same Hugh [son of Osbern] holds Pulford. Wulfric held it as a free man. There is one and a half hides taxable. The land is one plough, and there are two riders, and one villager, and two smallholders. This land was waste; now the value is five shillings.
Poulton
Poulton has a single entry.
Ricardus (pincerna) tenet de comitis Poytone. Eduin tenuit, liber homo fuit. Ibi una hida geldibilis. Terra est v caruca. In dominio sunt iii caruca; vi bovarii; praepositus; iii bordariis cum ii carucis. Ibi viii acrae pratis. Tempore regis Edwardi valet xl solidos; post tntd. Modo iiii libra.
Richard (the butler) holds Poulton from the Earl [Hugh]. Edwin held it, he was a free man. There is one hide taxable. The land is five ploughs. In lordship are 3 ploughs; six ploughmen; a reeve; three smallholders with two ploughs. Meadow, 8 acres. In the time of King Edward (before 1066) the value was forty shillings; later the same. Now four pounds.
The Domesday folio images are kindly made available by Professor J.J.N. Palmer, George Slater, and opendomesday.org under a Creative Commons BY-SA licence.