Belby House in the Domesday Book (1086)
Belby House is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Howden in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Belby House at 3 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Belby House supported a recorded population of 2 villagers, 3 smallholders, working 4 ploughs between them.
By 1086 Belby House was worth 2.5 shillings, up from 1.25 shillings before the Conquest – in contrast to many Yorkshire neighbours whose valuations collapsed.
Resources Recorded at Belby House (1086)
- Mills: 1 mill (valued at 5d)
- Fisheries: 2
Other Settlements in Howden
- Asselby
- Babthorpe
- Barlby
- Barmby [on the Marsh]
- Barnhill [Hall]
- Bowthorpe
- Brackenholme
- Burland [House]
- Cavil
- Cliffe
- Cotness [Hall]
- Eastrington
- Hagthorpe
- Hemingbrough
The Meaning of the Name
The name Belby House is of Scandinavian origin. Its final element derives from the Old Norse word bý, a farmstead or village. 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 farmstead’.
Names of this type are a fingerprint of Scandinavian settlement: they cluster across the old Danelaw, where Norse-speaking settlers renamed or founded villages from the late 9th century onward.
Remarkably, the name has changed little since 1086, when the Domesday scribes wrote it as Belby House.
Belby House Today
Today Belby House lies within the administrative area of Kilpin.
Read more about modern Belby on Wikipedia .
Nearby Domesday Settlements
Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:
- Thorpe Lidget - 1.0 km W
- Burland House - 1.0 km N
- Cavil - 1.0 km N
- Portington - 1.4 km NE
- Eastrington - 2.0 km E
- Kilpin - 3.0 km S
Heritage Around Belby [House]
Photographs of churches, listed buildings and monuments in the vicinity, contributed by volunteers to the Geograph project and reused here under a Creative Commons licence.
© Paul Harrop · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© Paul Harrop · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© mym · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
Images © their respective photographers, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 and reused here with attribution. Photographs depict listed buildings, churches and monuments near this settlement and may show neighbouring villages.
Data derived from the Open Domesday project (opendomesday.org), based on the Domesday Book dataset compiled by Professor J.J.N. Palmer and team. The Domesday Book (1086) is in the public domain.
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