Title
Domesday Book Cawston 1086
Subject
Information on Cawston at the time of the Domesday Book
Description
THE DOMESDAY SURVEY.
The Survey made by King William after his victory at Hastings gives us a good idea of the condition of our village at that time.
There was a royal manor here, which meant that the King received its income, and that Cawston men probably fought at Hastings.
In the Domesday Book it is recorded that the manor here had 11 carucates* of land, while 26 carucates were held by freemen. Cawston Wood supported 1500 pigs in 1066, which made it the largest in Norfolk, during the next few years much woodland was cleared for farming purposes and by 1086 the number of pigs had fallen to 1000. In the parish there were 62 villeins and bordars* and 10 socmen*, also 2 mills, 60 sheep, 50 goats, and 5 hives of bees, all of which William held at the survey”.
*Carucate: The area, of land which could be ploughed by a team of eight oxen.
*Villeins and Bordars were labourers on the Manor lands, under the control of the Lord of the Manor. Freemen were their own masters.
*Socmen were usually descended from the Scandinavian
soldiers who settled here In the ninth century.
The Survey made by King William after his victory at Hastings gives us a good idea of the condition of our village at that time.
There was a royal manor here, which meant that the King received its income, and that Cawston men probably fought at Hastings.
In the Domesday Book it is recorded that the manor here had 11 carucates* of land, while 26 carucates were held by freemen. Cawston Wood supported 1500 pigs in 1066, which made it the largest in Norfolk, during the next few years much woodland was cleared for farming purposes and by 1086 the number of pigs had fallen to 1000. In the parish there were 62 villeins and bordars* and 10 socmen*, also 2 mills, 60 sheep, 50 goats, and 5 hives of bees, all of which William held at the survey”.
*Carucate: The area, of land which could be ploughed by a team of eight oxen.
*Villeins and Bordars were labourers on the Manor lands, under the control of the Lord of the Manor. Freemen were their own masters.
*Socmen were usually descended from the Scandinavian
soldiers who settled here In the ninth century.
Creator
Simon Isbell and Des Cook
Source
John Kett
Date
1066
Identifier
General History