Claxton in the Domesday Book (1086)
The 1086 Domesday survey records the settlement of Claxton, entered under the hundred of Bulford in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Claxton at 9.8 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Claxton supported a recorded population of 17 villagers, 14 smallholders, 2 slaves, working 10 ploughs between them.
The drop in value is hard to miss. Before 1066, Claxton was worth 8 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 7 shillings – a fall of 12%. 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 3 manors at Claxton 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 Claxton (1086)
- Meadow: 1 ploughs
- Woodland: 100 pigs
Other Settlements in Bulford
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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