Netherleigh in the Domesday Book (1086)

The 1086 Domesday survey records the settlement of Netherleigh, entered under the hundred of Chester in Cheshire. The survey assessed Netherleigh at 143 carucates of taxable land.

Most significantly, Netherleigh is recorded as waste in 1086 — land rendered uninhabitable and valueless. Before the Conquest, the settlement had been assessed at 82 shillings; by 1086 that value had collapsed entirely. This pattern — prosperity before 1066, devastation by 1086 — is the unmistakable signature of the Harrying of the North, William I’s campaign of systematic destruction across Yorkshire in 1069–70.

The survey lists 2 manors at Netherleigh 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 Netherleigh (1086)

• Meadow: 6 acres
• Woodland: 5 * 5 None

Other Settlements in Chester

• Chester
• Handbridge
• Newton [by Chester]
• Overleigh
• Redcliff