West Witton in the Domesday Book (1086)

West Witton 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 Witton 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 Witton.

Listed Buildings Near West Witton

Historic England records 24 listed buildings within about a mile of West Witton. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II

• The Old Vicarage - 0.28 km
• Abbotsleigh - 0.31 km
• Grassgill House - 0.37 km
• Sunniside - 0.37 km
• Ivydene - 0.38 km
• Grassgill Farmhouse - 0.4 km
• The Beacon - 0.46 km
• Chantry Farm Cottage - 0.49 km
• Fox and Hounds Inn - 0.49 km
• Chantry Farmhouse - 0.49 km
• Church of Saint Bartholomew - 0.49 km
• Catheral Hall Catheral House - 0.51 km
• Smothits - 0.54 km
• Village Hall - 0.56 km
• West Witton Pottery - 0.57 km
• The Hollies East and The Hollies West - 0.61 km
• Kingston House - 0.63 km
• Bolton Dene - 0.7 km
• Mile post approximately 40 metres south of West Witton School - 0.8 km
• Guide Stone - 0.94 km
• Gates, Railings, Walls and Gate Piers Beside South Lodge of Bolton Estate - 1.06 km
• Chantry House - 1.17 km
• Lords Bridge - 1.18 km
• Holme Farm - 1.26 km

West Witton Today

Today West Witton lies within the administrative area of North Yorkshire, and the settlement recorded a population of 354 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 Witton on Wikipedia .

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• Agglethorpe - 2.8 km SE
• Preston under Scar - 3.0 km N
• Wensley - 3.2 km E
• Wensley - 3.2 km E
• Melmerby - 3.2 km S
• High and Low Thoresby - 3.6 km NW