Dunkeswick in the Domesday Book (1086)
Dunkeswick is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Burghshire in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Dunkeswick at 95 carucates of taxable land.
The survey records Dunkeswick’s value at 0d 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.
Other Settlements in Burghshire
- Addlethorpe
- Aismunderby
- Aldfield
- Allerton [Mauleverer]
- Arkendale
- Askwith
- Azerley
- Barrowby [Grange]
- Beckwith [House]
- Besthaim
- Bestham
- Bewerley
- Bilton
- Birstwith
The Meaning of the Name
The name Dunkeswick is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word wīc, a dwelling, dairy farm or trading settlement. The first element is most likely a personal name or an early descriptive term, now difficult to recover with certainty. Taken together the name probably meant something close to ‘a specialised farm’.