Thornton in the Domesday Book (1086)

The 1086 Domesday survey records the settlement of Thornton, entered under the hundred of Cave in Yorkshire.

Other Settlements in Cave

• Aughton
• Drewton
• Ellerton
• Everthorpe
• Foggathorpe
• Gribthorpe
• Hotham
• Laytham
• Melbourne
• Seaton [Ross]
• Yokefleet [Grange]
• [East] Cottingwith
• [High and Low] Hunsley
• [Kettle]thorpe

The Meaning of the Name

The name Thornton is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word tūn, a farmstead or village, while the first element appears to represent thorn-bushes. Taken together the name probably meant something close to ’the thorn-bushes farmstead’.

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

Listed Buildings Near Thornton

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

Grade II*

• Church of St Michael - 0.46 km

Grade II

• Pocklington Canal Church Bridge - 1.09 km
• Pocklington Canal Thornton Lock - 1.18 km

Thornton Today

Today Thornton lies within the administrative area of East Riding of Yorkshire, and the settlement recorded a population of 142 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 Thornton on Wikipedia .

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• Melbourne - 1.0 km S
• Waplington Hall - 2.2 km NE
• Allerthorpe - 3.2 km E
• Bielby - 3.6 km SE
• Barmby Moor - 3.6 km NE
• Chetelestorp - 4.1 km W