West Layton in the Domesday Book (1086)

West Layton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Land of Count Alan in Yorkshire.

Other Settlements in Land of Count Alan

• Achebi
• Agglethorpe
• Ainderby [Mires]
• Ainderby [Quernhow]
• Aiskew
• Aldbrough
• Allerthorpe [Hall]
• Ascam
• Ascham
• Asebi
• Aske [Hall]
• Askrigg
• Aysgarth
• Baldersby

The Meaning of the Name

The name West Layton is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Its final element derives from the Old English word tūn, 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’.

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

Listed Buildings Near West Layton

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

Grade II

• Ravensworth Lodge and Attached Outbuilding - 0.25 km
• Hay Barn - 0.64 km
• Pigeoncote Approximately 15 Metres East of Former House at Old Dunsa Bank Farm - 1.08 km

West Layton Today

Today West Layton lies within the administrative area of North Yorkshire, and the settlement recorded a population of 46 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 West Layton on Wikipedia .

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• East Layton - 2.0 km E
• Ravensworth - 2.0 km S
• Dalton - 3.2 km W
• Dalton - 3.2 km W
• Hutton Magna - 3.6 km NW
• Broughton House - 4.0 km W