Lower Cumberworth is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Agbrigg in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Lower Cumberworth at 7 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Lower Cumberworth supported a recorded population of 9 villagers, 20 smallholders, 2 slaves, working 16 ploughs between them.

By 1086 Lower Cumberworth was worth 7.5 shillings, up from 6.5 shillings before the Conquest – in contrast to many Yorkshire neighbours whose valuations collapsed.

The survey lists 4 manors at Lower Cumberworth 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 Agbrigg

The Meaning of the Name

The name Lower Cumberworth is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word worð, an enclosure or homestead. 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 enclosure’.

Remarkably, the name has changed little since 1086, when the Domesday scribes wrote it as Lower Cumberworth.

Listed Buildings Near Lower Cumberworth

Historic England records 17 listed buildings within about a mile of Lower Cumberworth. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II