Wales in the Domesday Book (1086)

The settlement of Wales is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Strafforth in Yorkshire. The survey assessed Wales at 7.6 carucates of taxable land.

At the time of the survey, Wales supported a recorded population of 20 villagers, 40 smallholders, 2 slaves, 12 freemanmen, working 13 ploughs between them.

By 1086 Wales was worth 18 shillings, up from 14 shillings before the Conquest – a sign this community came through the Conquest without being ruined.

The survey lists 2 manors at Wales under different lords. Splitting a single settlement between multiple tenants was common across the North – Saxon estates broken up and handed to William’s followers after 1066.

Resources Recorded at Wales (1086)

• Mills: 1 mill
• Pigs: 2
• Sheep: 100
• Meadow: 2 acres
• Woodland: 3 acres

Other Settlements in Strafforth

• Adwick [le Street]
• Adwick [upon Dearne]
• Armthorpe
• Aston
• Attercliffe
• Auckley
• Aughton [Hall]
• Austerfield
• Balby
• Barnbrough
• Barnby [Dun]
• Bentley
• Bilham [House]
• Billingley

The Meaning of the Name

The origin of the name Wales is not securely established from its modern form alone; like many settlement names in the North it likely combines an Old English or Old Norse personal name with a landscape term.

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

Listed Buildings Near Wales

Historic England records 11 listed buildings within about a mile of Wales. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II*

• Church of St John the Baptist - 0.8 km

Grade II

• Wales Court Comprising the Manor, Wales Place, Wales House and the Mews - 0.32 km
• Railway Bridge Beneath Track to Low Laithes Farm - 0.48 km
• Dovecote to Rear of Number 4 Approximately 20 Metres to North of House - 0.49 km
• The Beeches - 0.51 km
• Cartshed and Granary Attached to Barn House - 0.52 km
• War Memorial at Junction of Church Street and Wales Road - 0.58 km
• Farmbuilding Approximately 40 Metres to North East of Nickerwood Farmhouse - 0.8 km
• Step Cottage - 0.82 km
• Nickerwood Farmhouse - 0.82 km
• Milepost at Sk 46778332 - 0.85 km

Wales Today

Today Wales lies within the administrative area of Rotherham, and the settlement recorded a population of 7,510 at the 2021 census. Nine and a half centuries separate that figure from the small rural community the Domesday survey recorded here in 1086.

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• Kiveton - 2.0 km E
• Todwick - 2.2 km NE
• Aston - 2.2 km NW
• Beighton - 3.0 km W
• Killamarsh - 3.6 km SW
• Aughton Hall - 3.6 km NW