Cawton in the Domesday Book (1086)
The settlement of Cawton is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Maneshou in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Cawton at 15.2 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Cawton supported a recorded population of 24 villagers, 19 smallholders, 6 freemanmen, working 11 ploughs between them.
The valuation dropped between 1066 and 1086. Before 1066, Cawton was worth 9.25 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 8.15 shillings – a fall of 11%. 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 8 manors at Cawton 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 Cawton (1086)
- Churches: 1
- Fisheries: 5
- Meadow: 55 acres
Other Settlements in Maneshou
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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