The settlement of Lofthouse is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Morley in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Lofthouse at 4 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Lofthouse supported a recorded population of 2 villagers, 3 smallholders, working 2 ploughs between them.

By 1086 Lofthouse was worth 1.35 shillings, up from 1.15 shillings before the Conquest – a sign this community came through the Conquest without being ruined.

The survey lists 2 manors at Lofthouse 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.

Other Settlements in Morley

The Meaning of the Name

The origin of the name Lofthouse 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 Lofthouse.

Listed Buildings Near Lofthouse

Historic England records 4 listed buildings within about a mile of Lofthouse. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II*