Wheldale in the Domesday Book (1086)
The settlement of Wheldale is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Osgodcross in Yorkshire.
Other Settlements in Osgodcross
- Arksey
- Badsworth
- Beal
- Burgh[wallis]
- Campsall
- Darrington
- Featherstone
- Ferry [Fryston]
- Hamphall [Stubbs]
- Hensall
- Hessle
- Kellington
- Knottingley
- Minsthorpe
The Meaning of the Name
The name Wheldale is of Scandinavian origin. Its final element derives from the Old Norse word dalr, a valley. 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 valley’.
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 Wheldale.
Nearby Domesday Settlements
Other places recorded in the 1086 survey within a few miles:
- Water Fryston - 1.0 km E
- Newton Wallis - 1.4 km NW
- Fairburn - 2.2 km NE
- Glass Houghton - 2.8 km SW
- Ledston - 2.8 km NW
- Ledsham - 3.0 km N
Heritage Around Wheldale
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.
© David Pickersgill · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© Bill Henderson · Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
© Bill Henderson · 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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