Fenny Bentley in the Domesday Book (1086)
Fenny Bentley is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Hamston in Derbyshire.
Other Settlements in Hamston
- Alsop [-en-le-Dale]
- Ashbourne
- Atlow
- Ballidon
- Bonsall
- Bradbourne
- Brassington
- Broadlowash
- Callow
- Carsington
- Cowley
- Cromford
- Elton
- Hanson [Grange]
The Meaning of the Name
The name Fenny Bentley is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word lēah, a woodland clearing or glade. The first element is most likely a personal name or an early descriptive term, now difficult to recover with certainty. Taken together the name probably meant something close to ‘a clearing’.
Remarkably, the name has changed little since 1086, when the Domesday scribes wrote it as Fenny Bentley.
Listed Buildings Near Fenny Bentley
Historic England records 5 listed buildings within about a mile of Fenny Bentley. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.
Grade II*
- Cherry Orchard Farmhouse and Attached Outbuildings - 0.28 km
- Church of St Edmund - 0.31 km
Grade II
- Lees Farmhouse - 0.71 km
- Mile Post Opposite Bentley Brook Hotel at Ngr 176 496 - 0.8 km
- Mile Post, North of Old Railway Bridge at Ngr 173 512 - 0.81 km
Scheduled Monuments Near Fenny Bentley
Scheduled monuments are nationally important archaeological sites given legal protection. 1 lies within roughly a mile of Fenny Bentley:
- Bassett Wood bowl barrow - 0.68 km
Fenny Bentley Today
Today Fenny Bentley lies within the administrative area of Derbyshire Dales, and the settlement recorded a population of 185 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 Fenny Bentley on Wikipedia .
Nearby Domesday Settlements
Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:
- Broadlowash - 2.0 km W
- Thorpe - 2.0 km W
- Tissington - 2.0 km N
- Offcote - 2.8 km SE
- Mapleton - 3.2 km S
- Newton Grange - 3.2 km N
Heritage Around [Fenny] Bentley
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.
© Nikki Mahadevan · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© John H Darch · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© Brian Ward · 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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