Shirley in the Domesday Book (1086)

The 1086 Domesday survey records the settlement of Shirley, entered under the hundred of Appletree in Derbyshire.

Other Settlements in Appletree

• Alkmonton
• Ashe
• Aston
• Barton [Blount]
• Bentley
• Boylestone
• Bradley
• Brailsford
• Bupton
• Clifton
• Doveridge
• Eaton [Dovedale]
• Edlaston
• Ednaston

The Meaning of the Name

The name Shirley is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word lēah, a woodland clearing or glade. 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 clearing’.

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

Listed Buildings Near Shirley

Historic England records 13 listed buildings within about a mile of Shirley. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II*

• Church of St Michael - 0.35 km

Grade II

• Thatched Cottage - 0.23 km
• The Saracen’s Head Public House - 0.28 km
• Terrace of Three Cottages Opposite the Saracen’s Head Pub - 0.31 km
• The Old Rectory - 0.33 km
• Churchyard Cross - 0.34 km
• Stable Block at the Old Rectory - 0.35 km
• Yew Tree Cottage - 0.43 km
• The Hall - 0.54 km
• Stable Block at Shirley Hall - 0.57 km
• Cow House at Shirley Hall - 0.61 km
• Shirley Mill Farmhouse - 0.65 km
• Old Vicarage - 0.88 km

Scheduled Monuments Near Shirley

Scheduled monuments are nationally important archaeological sites given legal protection. 1 lies within roughly a mile of Shirley:

• Moated site at Shirley Hall - 0.54 km

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• Rodsley - 1.4 km SW
• Ednaston - 2.0 km E
• Hollington - 2.2 km SE
• Osmaston - 2.8 km NW
• Yeaveley - 3.2 km W
• Edlaston - 3.2 km W