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Domesday Book


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British History

Swainshead in the Domesday Book (1086)

The settlement of Swainshead is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Amounderness in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Swainshead at 0.6 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Swainshead supported a recorded population of 4 villagers, 4 smallholders, 2 slaves, working 3 ploughs between them.

The survey records Swainshead’s value at 1 shilling in 1086. No pre-Conquest figure survives – not unusual in the North, where records were disrupted by the Harrying and by the patchy coverage of the survey.