Morton upon Swale in the Domesday Book (1086)
The 1086 Domesday survey records the settlement of Morton upon Swale, entered under the hundred of Land of Count Alan in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Morton upon Swale at 11 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Morton upon Swale supported a recorded population of 10 villagers, 12 smallholders, 8 slaves, working 16 ploughs between them.
By 1086 Morton upon Swale was worth 7 shillings, up from 6 shillings before the Conquest – which sets it apart from the many nearby villages left waste or devalued.
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 Morton upon Swale is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word tūn, 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’.
Remarkably, the name has changed little since 1086, when the Domesday scribes wrote it as Morton upon Swale.
Listed Buildings Near Morton upon Swale
Historic England records 9 listed buildings within about a mile of Morton upon Swale. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.
Grade I
- Church of Saint Helen - 1.06 km
Grade II*
- Langlands - 0.6 km
Grade II
- Wesleyan Chapel - 0.63 km
- Morton Hall Farm - 0.64 km
- Manor House Farm - 0.65 km
- Morton Bridge - 0.78 km
- 8, Northallerton Road - 1.02 km
- Milestone Approximately 100 Metres to North West of Church - 1.03 km
- 5, Northallerton Road - 1.03 km
Morton upon Swale Today
Today Morton upon Swale lies within the administrative area of Hambleton, and the settlement recorded a population of 691 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 Morton-on-Swale on Wikipedia .
Nearby Domesday Settlements
Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:
- Ainderby Steeple - 1.4 km NE
- Warlaby - 2.0 km E
- Thrintoft - 2.0 km N
- Scruton - 2.2 km NW
- Newton Picot - 2.2 km SW
- Romanby - 3.6 km NE
Heritage Around Morton [upon Swale]
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.
© David Cowling · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© David Cowling · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© Bob Embleton · 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.
Location
54.3179°N, -1.5003°W · Land of Count Alan hundred, Yorkshire
View larger map on OpenStreetMap →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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