Wensley in the Domesday Book (1086)
The settlement of Wensley is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Hamston in Derbyshire.
Other Settlements in Hamston
- Alsop [-en-le-Dale]
- Ashbourne
- Atlow
- Ballidon
- Bonsall
- Bradbourne
- Brassington
- Broadlowash
- Callow
- Carsington
- Cowley
- Cromford
- Elton
- Hanson [Grange]
The Meaning of the Name
The name Wensley 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 Wensley.
Listed Buildings Near Wensley
Historic England records 8 listed buildings within about a mile of Wensley. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.
Grade II*
- Darley Bridge (Over River Derwent) - 0.76 km
Grade II
- Church of St Mary - 0.17 km
- Wensley Hall - 0.37 km
- K6 Telephone Kiosk (Opposite Crown Inn) - 0.44 km
- Three Stags Heads Public House - 0.62 km
- Potters Cottage - 0.65 km
- Square and Compass Public House - 0.82 km
- Former Powder House at N R Sk 256623 - 1.24 km
Scheduled Monuments Near Wensley
Scheduled monuments are nationally important archaeological sites given legal protection. 4 lie within roughly a mile of Wensley:
- Mount Pleasant lead mines, immediately south of Wensley - 0.74 km
- Darley Bridge - 0.75 km
- Old Millclose engine house and associated features, 570m south west of Cowley Hall - 0.89 km
- Northern Dale lead mines - 1.01 km
Wensley Today
Today Wensley lies within the administrative area of South Darley.
Read more about modern Wensley on Wikipedia .
Nearby Domesday Settlements
Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:
- Cowley - 1.0 km N
- Darley - 1.4 km NE
- Snitterton - 1.4 km SE
- Winster - 2.2 km SW
- Matlock - 3.2 km E
- Matlock Bridge? - 3.2 km E
Heritage Around Wensley
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.
© Alan Heardman · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© John Poyser · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© John Poyser · 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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