Smisby in the Domesday Book (1086)
Smisby appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Walecros in Derbyshire.
Other Settlements in Walecros
- Appleby [Magna]
- Bolun
- Bretby
- Caldwell
- Catton
- Coton [-in-the-Elms]
- Drakelowe
- Foremark
- Hartshorne
- Hearthcote
- Ingleby
- Lullington
- Melbourne
- Milton
The Meaning of the Name
The name Smisby is of Scandinavian origin. Its final element derives from the Old Norse word bý, 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’.
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 Smisby.
Listed Buildings Near Smisby
Historic England records 10 listed buildings within about a mile of Smisby. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.
Grade I
- Church of St James - 0.38 km
Grade II*
- The Lock Up (Round House) - 0.46 km
Grade II
- Smisby Manor - 0.39 km
- Steps, Gates and Railings to South East of St James’ Church - 0.42 km
- Smisby War Memorial - 0.42 km
- Pitt’s Farmhouse - 0.45 km
- Ivanhoe House - 0.57 km
- Hillside Farmhouse - 0.57 km
- Toll House - 1.14 km
- Daniel Hay Farmhouse - 1.24 km
Smisby Today
Today Smisby lies within the administrative area of South Derbyshire, and the settlement recorded a population of 253 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 Smisby on Wikipedia .
Nearby Domesday Settlements
Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:
- Hartshorne - 2.8 km NW
- Swadlincote - 4.0 km W
- Ticknall - 4.1 km N
- Willesley - 5.0 km S
- Donisthorpe - 5.8 km SW
- Hearthcote - 6.0 km W
Heritage Around Smisby
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.
© Nigel Cox · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© E Gammie · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© Simon Huguet · 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.
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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