Chester in the Domesday Book (1086)
Chester appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Chester in Cheshire. The survey assessed Chester at 0.5 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Chester supported a recorded population of 1 smallholder, 4 slaves, working 1 plough between them.
The numbers record a sharp fall. Before 1066, Chester was worth 2 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 1.5 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.
Resources Recorded at Chester (1086)
- Meadow: 1 ploughs
- Woodland: 50 pigs
Other Settlements in Chester
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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