Barnoldswick appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Craven in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Barnoldswick at 5.4 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Barnoldswick supported a recorded population of 11 villagers, 21 smallholders, 3 slaves, 5 freemanmen, working 8 ploughs between them.

By 1086 Barnoldswick was worth 8.41 shillings, up from 4.14 shillings before the Conquest – one of the few settlements in the area to hold its value through the upheaval.

The survey lists 3 manors at Barnoldswick 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 Barnoldswick (1086)

Mills: 1 mill
Churches: 1
Cattle: 15
Pigs: 31
Horses (cobs): 4
Meadow: 7 acres
Woodland: 5 pigs

Other Settlements in Craven

The Meaning of the Name

The name Barnoldswick 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’.

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

Listed Buildings Near Barnoldswick

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

Grade II*

Independent Methodist Church Including Steps and Railings to Street - 0.05 km
Coates Hall - 1.27 km

Grade II

Old Chapel House - 0.08 km
15 and 17, King Street - 0.16 km
16-26, Town Head - 0.25 km
Hey Farmhouse - 0.27 km
Newfield Edge - 0.4 km
Lower Calf Hall Farmhouse - 0.6 km
Hen House Farmhouse - 0.8 km
Barn at Higher Park Farm - 0.99 km
Mill Close Farmhouse - 1.01 km
Barn Adjoining Mill Close Farmhouse - 1.02 km
Leeds and Liverpool Canal Cockshott Bridge - 1.07 km
Fosters Arms Public House - 1.09 km
West Close Farmhouse - 1.12 km
Milestone in South East Corner of Garden at 245 (Lane End Farmhouse) - 1.22 km
Lane End Farmhouse - 1.23 km

Barnoldswick Today

Today Barnoldswick lies within the administrative area of Pendle, and the settlement recorded a population of 10,915 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 Barnoldswick on Wikipedia .