Ashe appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Appletree in Derbyshire. The survey assessed Ashe at 3 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Ashe supported a recorded population of 10 villagers, 5 smallholders, 3 slaves, working 8 ploughs between them.

The numbers record a sharp fall. Before 1066, Ashe was worth 6.5 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 3.25 shillings – a fall of 50%. Most Yorkshire villages that lost value on this scale were swept up in the Harrying of the North – William’s scorched-earth campaign of 1069–70.

The survey lists 2 manors at Ashe under different lords. Splitting a single settlement between multiple tenants was common across the North – Saxon estates broken up and handed to William’s followers after 1066.

Resources Recorded at Ashe (1086)

Meadow: 8 ploughs

Other Settlements in Appletree

The Meaning of the Name

The origin of the name Ashe is not securely established from its modern form alone; like many settlement names in the North it likely combines an Old English or Old Norse personal name with a landscape term.

Remarkably, the name has changed little since 1086, when the Domesday scribes wrote it as Ashe.

Listed Buildings Near Ashe

Historic England records 17 listed buildings within about a mile of Ashe. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade I

Church of St Helen - 0.55 km

Grade II*

Sir John Port Almshouses - 0.48 km
Gates, Gatepiers, and Railings to South of the Etwall Almshouses - 0.51 km

Grade II

Garden Wall to Lane Next to Church, Etwall Park, 5 Metres Sw of Etwall Almshouses - 0.47 km
Ashe Hall - 0.49 km
The Vicarage - 0.55 km
Well Head to 6 Metres South West of St Helen’s Church Porch - 0.56 km
80 Main Street - 0.59 km
The Limes and Attached Coach House - 0.6 km
Etwall Lawns - 0.6 km
Number 78 and Attached Outbuilding - 0.6 km
Hawk and Buckle Inn and Attached Stableblock - 0.6 km
Blenheim Farmhouse - 0.61 km
58, Main Street - 0.61 km
48 and 50 Main Street - 0.61 km
The Old Red House - 0.61 km
Etwall Lodge - 0.97 km

Ashe Today

Today Ashe lies within the administrative area of South Derbyshire, and the settlement recorded a population of 107 at the 2021 census. Nine and a half centuries separate that figure from the small rural community the Domesday survey recorded here in 1086.

Read more about modern Ash on Wikipedia .