Ferrensby in the Domesday Book (1086)
Ferrensby is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Burghshire in Yorkshire.
Other Settlements in Burghshire
- Addlethorpe
- Aismunderby
- Aldfield
- Allerton [Mauleverer]
- Arkendale
- Askwith
- Azerley
- Barrowby [Grange]
- Beckwith [House]
- Besthaim
- Bestham
- Bewerley
- Bilton
- Birstwith
The Meaning of the Name
The name Ferrensby is of Scandinavian origin. Its final element derives from the Old Norse word bý, a farmstead or village. 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 farmstead’.
Names of this type are a fingerprint of Scandinavian settlement: they cluster across the old Danelaw, where Norse-speaking settlers renamed or founded villages from the late 9th century onward.
Remarkably, the name has changed little since 1086, when the Domesday scribes wrote it as Ferrensby.
Listed Buildings Near Ferrensby
Historic England records 4 listed buildings within about a mile of Ferrensby. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.
Grade II
- Lake View Cottage Lake View Farmhouse - 0.37 km
- Long Cottage - 0.39 km
- Barn to West of Loftus Hill - 1.06 km
- Loftus Hill - 1.07 km
Ferrensby Today
Today Ferrensby lies within the administrative area of Harrogate, and the settlement recorded a population of 166 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 Ferrensby on Wikipedia .
Nearby Domesday Settlements
Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:
- Loftus Hill - 1.4 km NE
- Arkendale - 2.0 km E
- Farnham - 2.0 km W
- Staveley - 2.0 km N
- Walkingham Hill - 2.2 km NW
- Scriven - 2.8 km SW
Heritage Around Ferrensby
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.
© William Metcalfe · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© John Salmon · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© John Salmon · 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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