Birkby Hill in the Domesday Book (1086)
The settlement of Birkby Hill is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Skyrack in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Birkby Hill at 9 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Birkby Hill supported a recorded population of 17 villagers, 3 smallholders, working 9 ploughs between them.
The valuation dropped between 1066 and 1086. Before 1066, Birkby Hill was worth 8 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 6 shillings – a fall of 25%. 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 Birkby Hill 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 Birkby Hill (1086)
- Churches: 1
- Meadow: 20 acres
Other Settlements in Skyrack
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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