Raisthorpe in the Domesday Book (1086)

The settlement of Raisthorpe is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Acklam in Yorkshire.

Other Settlements in Acklam

• Acklam
• Barthorpe [Grange]
• Bugthorpe
• Burythorpe
• Eddlethorpe
• Firby
• Fridaythorpe
• Garrowby [Hall]
• Howsham
• Kirby [Underdale]
• Kirkham
• Leavening
• Leppington
• Menethorpe

The Meaning of the Name

The name Raisthorpe is of Scandinavian origin. Its final element derives from the Old Norse word þorp, an outlying or secondary farmstead. 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 outlying farm’.

Names of this type are a fingerprint of Scandinavian settlement: they cluster across the old Danelaw, where Norse-speaking settlers renamed or founded villages from the late 9th century onward.

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

Listed Buildings Near Raisthorpe

Historic England records 2 listed buildings within about a mile of Raisthorpe. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II

• Raisthorpe Manor - 0.23 km
• Round the Bend - 1.21 km

Raisthorpe Today

Today Raisthorpe lies within the administrative area of Norton Rural District.

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• Thixendale - 1.0 km W
• Burdale - 2.2 km NE
• Fridaythorpe - 2.8 km SE
• Wharram Percy - 3.0 km N
• Wharram le Street - 4.1 km N
• Uncleby - 4.5 km SW