Ottringham in the Domesday Book (1086)

Ottringham appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Holderness [South Hundred] in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Ottringham at 9.4 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Ottringham supported a recorded population of 10 villagers, 2 smallholders, 2 slaves, working 5 ploughs between them.

The numbers record a sharp fall. Before 1066, Ottringham was worth 4.26 shillings; by 1086 that had dropped to 3.86 shillings – a fall of 9%. Most Yorkshire villages that lost value on this scale were swept up in the Harrying of the North – William’s scorched-earth campaign of 1069–70.

The survey lists 4 manors at Ottringham 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 Holderness [South Hundred]

• Andrebi
• Burstwick
• Camerton [Hall]
• Dimlington
• Easington
• Grimston
• Halsham
• Hilston
• Hollym
• Holmpton
• Keyingham
• Kilnsea
• Monkwith
• Newton [Garth]

The Meaning of the Name

The name Ottringham 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 Ottringham.

Listed Buildings Near Ottringham

Historic England records 3 listed buildings within about a mile of Ottringham. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade I

• Church of St Wilfred - 0.17 km

Grade II

• Churchside - 0.19 km
• Milestone Approximately 130 Metres East of Beck Bridge - 0.73 km

Ottringham Today

Today Ottringham lies within the administrative area of East Riding of Yorkshire, and the settlement recorded a population of 630 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 Ottringham on Wikipedia .

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• Keyingham - 2.2 km NW
• Halsham - 2.2 km NE
• Winestead - 3.2 km E
• Totleys Farm - 4.2 km NW
• Great and Little Newsome - 4.5 km NE
• Burstwick - 5.0 km NW