Burghwallis in the Domesday Book (1086)
Burghwallis is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Osgodcross in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Burghwallis at 20 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Burghwallis supported a recorded population of 66 villagers, 7 smallholders, 4 slaves, working 31 ploughs between them.
Something went badly wrong here between the two surveys. Before 1066, Burghwallis was worth 28 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 18.5 shillings – a fall of 33%. 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 Burghwallis 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 Burghwallis (1086)
- Churches: 2
- Meadow: 50 acres
- Woodland: 60 swine render
Other Settlements in Osgodcross
- Arksey
- Badsworth
- Beal
- Campsall
- Darrington
- Featherstone
- Ferry [Fryston]
- Hamphall [Stubbs]
- Hensall
- Hessle
- Kellington
- Knottingley
- Minsthorpe
- Newsham
The Meaning of the Name
The origin of the name Burghwallis 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 Burghwallis.
Listed Buildings Near Burghwallis
Historic England records 8 listed buildings within about a mile of Burghwallis. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.
Grade I
- Church of St Helen - 0.45 km
Grade II*
- St Anne’s Rest Home - 0.48 km
Grade II
- The Old Rectory and St Anthony’s - 0.42 km
- Remains of Medieval Cross Approximately 3 Metres to South of Porch of Church of St Helen - 0.46 km
- Coward Family Gravestone Situated Approximately 2 Metres to South of Priests’ Door to Church of St Helen - 0.46 km
- Home Farmhouse - 0.62 km
- Burghwallis War Memorial - 0.68 km
- Pinfold - 0.69 km
Scheduled Monuments Near Burghwallis
Scheduled monuments are nationally important archaeological sites given legal protection. 1 lies within roughly a mile of Burghwallis:
Burghwallis Today
Today Burghwallis lies within the administrative area of Doncaster, and the settlement recorded a population of 305 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 Burghwallis on Wikipedia .
Nearby Domesday Settlements
Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:
Heritage Around Burgh[wallis]
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.
© Gordon Hatton · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© Richard Croft · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© Christine Johnstone · 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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