Masham in the Domesday Book (1086)

The 1086 Domesday survey records the settlement of Masham, entered under the hundred of Land of Count Alan in Yorkshire.

Other Settlements in Land of Count Alan

• Achebi
• Agglethorpe
• Ainderby [Mires]
• Ainderby [Quernhow]
• Aiskew
• Aldbrough
• Allerthorpe [Hall]
• Ascam
• Ascham
• Asebi
• Aske [Hall]
• Askrigg
• Aysgarth
• Baldersby

The Meaning of the Name

The name Masham is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word hām, a homestead 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 homestead’.

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

Listed Buildings Near Masham

Historic England records 70 listed buildings within about a mile of Masham. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II*

• Church of Saint Mary - 0.21 km

Grade II

• Churchyard Cross Approximately 3 Metres to South of Church of Saint Mary - 0.18 km
• House Approximately 10 Metres to West of Old Rectory - 0.19 km
• Radleigh House - 0.2 km
• The Old Rectory - 0.2 km
• Stanhope - 0.2 km
• Brooklyn House - 0.2 km
• Kings Head Hotel - 0.2 km
• Cogden House - 0.21 km
• Kings Head Cottage - 0.21 km
• 36 and 38 Market Place - 0.21 km
• Deepdale - 0.22 km
• 42 and 46, Park Street - 0.23 km
• 27, Park Street - 0.23 km
• The Croft - 0.23 km
• 26 Market Place - 0.24 km
• Ivydene - 0.24 km
• Waterloo House - 0.24 km
• 23 and 25, Park Street - 0.24 km
• Market Cross - 0.24 km
• The Gallery - 0.25 km
• 21, Park Street - 0.25 km
• 22 Market Place - 0.26 km
• 8-12 Millgate - 0.26 km

…and 46 more listed structures in the area.

Scheduled Monuments Near Masham

Scheduled monuments are nationally important archaeological sites given legal protection. 2 lie within roughly a mile of Masham:

• Cross shaft in St Mary’s churchyard - 0.18 km
• Market cross in Masham - 0.24 km

Masham Today

Today Masham lies within the administrative area of Harrogate, and the settlement recorded a population of 1,112 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 Masham on Wikipedia .

Nearby Domesday Settlements

Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:

• Swinton - 1.4 km SW
• Twislebrook - 1.4 km SW
• High Burton - 2.0 km N
• High Sutton - 2.8 km NW
• Fearby - 3.2 km W
• Ilton - 3.6 km SW