Sudfell in the Domesday Book (1086)
Sudfell is named in the Domesday Book, compiled by Norman commissioners in 1086, entered under the hundred of Ati’s Cross in Cheshire. The survey assessed Sudfell at 0.5 carucates of taxable land.
At the time of the survey, Sudfell supported a recorded population of 1 villager, 2 smallholders, working 1 plough between them.
By 1086 Sudfell was worth 8d, up from 5d before the Conquest – in contrast to many Yorkshire neighbours whose valuations collapsed.
Other Settlements in Ati’s Cross
The Meaning of the Name
The name Sudfell is of Scandinavian origin. Its final element derives from the Old Norse word fjall, a hill or upland. 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 hill’.
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 Sudfell.
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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