Kirkburn in the Domesday Book (1086)
Kirkburn is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Driffield in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Kirkburn at 5.8 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Kirkburn supported a recorded population of 34 smallholders, 3 slaves, 15 freemanmen, working 9 ploughs between them.
Something went badly wrong here between the two surveys. Before 1066, Kirkburn was worth 7.75 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 6.8 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 5 manors at Kirkburn 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 Kirkburn (1086)
- Mills: 1 mill
- Churches: 2
- Cattle: 10
- Pigs: 12
- Sheep: 16
- Meadow: 8 acres
- Woodland: 12 pigs
Other Settlements in Driffield
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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