Domesday Delving

Gloucester: saints, sheriffs, and the bright fort by the Severn. From Roman Colonia Glevum to Æthelflæd’s Mercian power-base and the Norman ledger of Domesday, this episode traces how one city was rebuilt in stone, faith, and finance. We follow Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians, bringing the relics of St Oswald to Gloucester and turning a burh into a pilgrimage centre and royal mausoleum. Then w...

A look at Cirencester's past through the lens of the Domesday Book, along with a brief explanation of work in the middle ages and a look at William FitzOsbern, one of the most powerful men in the Norman regime. 

One year of Domesday Delving! To mark the occasion, we’re tackling one of the great titans of the survey: the City of York. In 1086 York sprawls across two full pages of Domesday, a record of a city scarred by rebellion, half-emptied by the Harrying of the North, and reshaped by Norman castles. In this special episode, we look at York before the Conquest, dig into Domesday’s tangle of messuages, p...

Benson, Oxfordshire, was once the richest royal manor in the county – and its story reaches from ancient settlements to the halls of kings. In this episode of Domesday Delving, we trace Benson’s journey from the days of Offa of Mercia and the Battle of Bensington, through its role as a prized royal holding in 1086. Along the way, we uncover Anglo-Saxon politics, curious coinage, and what one king’...

This week on Domesday Delving, we explore the Hertfordshire manor of Tring—once a sprawling 39-hide estate, dramatically reduced to just 5 hides and a virgate by the time of the Domesday Book. What happened? We dive into the shady post-Conquest manoeuvres of Ingelric, a native landholder who tried to game the new Norman system by attaching other people's land to his own. It didn’t end well for him...

Once a pagan lookout, later a Christian shrine, and by 1086, a centre of Norman authority—Harrow on the Hill stands as a layered landmark in England’s long story. This episode delves into the Domesday entry for Harrow, explores the remarkable life of Archbishop Lanfranc, and examines what it meant to hold land, status, and faith in a conquered kingdom. From villans and slaves to sacred spaces and...

This week, we head to the remote reaches of Cornwall, where the Count of Mortain held almost everything in sight — including Fawton, a manor that offers a rare glimpse into post-Conquest livestock records and the booming medieval wool trade. We delve into the life and legacy of Robert of Mortain, the Conqueror’s quiet but crucial half-brother, and ask what we can learn from his bold wager: 120 shi...

In this episode of Domesday Delving, we turn our attention to the quiet Devon manor of West Clyst—a small estate with just a handful of tenants and a single named landholder: Wulfgifu, an Anglo-Saxon woman whose name disappears after the Norman Conquest. Through this brief but revealing entry, we explore what was lost when women like Wulfgifu were written out of history, what ordinary people might...

In this episode of Domesday Delving, we explore the powerful and complex town of Taunton, Somerset—a Domesday entry bursting with legal privileges, economic reach, and a population that far exceeded what the record shows. From borough-rights and crime fines to buried lords and bishop-run courts, Taunton shows us what it meant to wield local power in medieval England—and what that still means for u...

In this week’s episode of Domesday Delving, we travel to Swyre in Dorset — a small coastal holding with a rare gem in its Domesday entry: a clear acknowledgement of King Harold. From this one line, we dive into the life, reign, and legacy of England’s last crowned Anglo-Saxon king. Was Harold Godwinson truly the usurper the Normans painted him to be — or a legitimate king cut down by an invading o...

This week on Domesday Delving, we journey to Bedwyn in Wiltshire, a royal estate so significant it was never taxed in hides. We explore the powerful symbolism of money, from medieval plough-teams and burgesses to today's digital currencies, and ask what it means when wealth loses its weight.  Along the way, we look at coliberts, crown land, and why even the absence of a mint can tell us a great de...

This week, we delve into Speen in Berkshire, a village whose Domesday entry includes a church, a mill, and seven slaves. What begins as a straightforward exploration quickly spirals into a deeper conversation about the history of slavery, the role of the Church, and the uncomfortable ways in which religious institutions have justified, and at times resisted, systems of oppression.  As promised, he...

This week on Domesday Delving, we travel to Damerham in Hampshire, a village with Neolithic tombs, a royal past, and a surprisingly tangled tax record. Once a royal estate and later a valuable holding of Glastonbury Abbey, Damerham’s Domesday entry reveals confusion over land value, rising rents, and a striking population of coliberts - freemen in a feudal world. We dig into the medieval tax syste...

This week, we head to Mortlake in Surrey, a manor so rich in assets it even held properties in London and Southwark. Once the domain of Archbishop Stigand and later seized by Lanfranc, Mortlake offers a window into the tangled relationship between church and state after the Norman Conquest. We look at the political rivalry between these two ecclesiastical giants, the Church's role in government, a...

What do a royal farm, a fallen estate, and a couple of jars of honey have in common? This week we travel to Upper Beeding in Sussex, once one of the most valuable holdings in the entire county, to uncover a story of royal wealth, Norman redistribution, and the small, sweet traces of medieval beekeeping. We’ll explore the unique administrative structure of Sussex, explain what on earth a “rape” is...

In this special episode of Domesday Delving, we take a step back from villages and livestock to explore one of the most remarkable stories buried in the margins of the Domesday Book: the case of Asa, a woman in pre-Conquest England who held land in her own right, kept it after separating from her husband, and stood as its lawful lady, only to lose it all after 1066. Her story isn't just a legal od...

In this episode of Domesday Delving, we travel to the Kentish village of Elham, once held directly by the Bishop of Bayeux himself, none other than Odo, half-brother of William the Conqueror. From flourishing manorial profits to the shadow of eight slaves still labouring in 1086, Elham tells a story of ambition, control, and the long reach of power. But this week’s episode takes us far beyond Kent...

In this episode of Domesday Delving, we explore Aylsham in Norfolk—a manor once held by Gyrth Godwinson, brother to Harold, England’s last Anglo-Saxon king. We’ll unravel the rise and catastrophic fall of the powerful House of Godwin, whose internal rivalries and personal ambitions helped doom even their strongest estates. From bustling fields and scattered berewicks to the cold realities of post-...

In this episode of Domesday Delving, we visit Chebsey in Staffordshire, a small village whose Domesday entry reveals a story of hidden upheaval. Part of Chebsey’s land was taken to build an early castle at Stafford, only for that castle to be demolished within a generation. What does this tell us about rebellion, royal insecurity, and the fragile hold the Normans had over England? We’ll explore Ch...

In this episode of Domesday Delving, we travel to Malpas in Cheshire—a place whose name, from the Old French mal pas, means bad passage. But long before that name took hold, the Anglo-Saxons called it Depenbech: the deep stream valley. Once held by Earl Edwin of Mercia, Malpas stood at the edge of Anglo-Saxon power and Norman ambition. We explore what the Domesday Book reveals about the manor’s co...

Saltby in Leicestershire is no sleepy Domesday backwater. In 1086, it was a bustling, high-output manor with an astonishing workforce: 24 villans, 23 sokemen, 14 bordars and 16 slaves. Once held by Earl Morcar, the rebellious Anglo-Saxon noble and son of Lady Godiva, Saltby passed into the hands of Norman baron Roger de Bully after the Conquest but its productivity didn’t falter. In this episode o...

In this episode of Domesday Delving, we explore the curious note that "many things are wanting to this manor"—including woodland and ironworks that had belonged to it in the time of King Edward. What happened in the twenty years between the Confessor’s reign and the Domesday survey to cause such loss? And what can Corby’s vanished iron industry tell us about resilience, change, and the fragility o...

Sometimes, Domesday surprises even me. In this episode of Domesday Delving, we explore an unexpected and little-known entry recorded near the Welsh border: Camelot. With its mix of ploughland, meadows, a vineyard, and a hall already falling into disrepair by 1086, this manor raises fascinating questions about the line between history and legend. We’ll look at the landholders before and after the C...

A look into Battlesden at the time of the Domesday Survey, including a look at the ruthless High Sherrif of Cumberland. 

In this episode of Domesday Delving, we explore what Eckington’s Domesday record tells us about life before and after the Norman Conquest. Who were the coliberts, and why are they so rarely mentioned? What did the shift from Anglo-Saxon to Norman rule mean for the people who worked the land? And how does this entry highlight the layers of status and servitude that shaped medieval society?