Drax in the Domesday Book (1086)

Drax appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Barkston in Yorkshire.

Other Settlements in Barkston

• Barkston
• Barlow
• Birkin
• Bramham
• Brayton
• Burton [Hall]
• Camblesforth
• Carlton
• Clifford
• Fairburn
• Grimston [Grange]
• Hambleton
• Hazelwood [Castle]
• Hunchilhuse

The Meaning of the Name

The origin of the name Drax 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 Drax.

Listed Buildings Near Drax

Historic England records 2 listed buildings within about a mile of Drax. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade I

• Church of St Peter and St Paul - 0.1 km

Grade II

• Cross Base and Shaft in Churchyard of St Peter and St Paul Approximately 2 Metres to South of Porch - 0.12 km

Scheduled Monuments Near Drax

Scheduled monuments are nationally important archaeological sites given legal protection. 2 lie within roughly a mile of Drax:

• Castle Hill moated site, 350m south of St Peter and St Paul’s Church - 0.44 km
• Scurff Hall moated site - 1.15 km

Drax Today

Today Drax lies within the administrative area of North Yorkshire, and the settlement recorded a population of 515 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 Drax on Wikipedia .

Nearby Domesday Settlements

Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:

• Barmby on the Marsh - 2.8 km NE
• Camblesforth - 3.0 km W
• Carlton - 3.6 km SW
• Barlow - 3.6 km NW
• Babthorpe - 3.6 km NE
• Hemingbrough - 4.0 km N