Westby appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, entered under the hundred of Amounderness in Yorkshire.

At the time of the survey, Westby supported a recorded population of 2 villagers, 2 smallholders, working 1 plough between them.

By 1086 Westby was worth 12d, up from 0d before the Conquest – one of the few settlements in the area to hold its value through the upheaval.

Resources Recorded at Westby (1086)

Woodland: 1 * 0.5 leagues

Other Settlements in Amounderness

The Meaning of the Name

The name Westby is of Scandinavian origin. Its final element derives from the Old Norse word bý, a farmstead or village, while the first element appears to represent the western. Taken together the name probably meant something close to ’the western farmstead’.

Names of this type are a fingerprint of Scandinavian settlement: they cluster across the old Danelaw, where Norse-speaking settlers renamed or founded villages from the late 9th century onward.

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

Listed Buildings Near Westby

Historic England records 5 listed buildings within about a mile of Westby. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II