Williamthorpe in the Domesday Book (1086)

The settlement of Williamthorpe is recorded in William I’s Domesday survey of 1086, entered under the hundred of Scarsdale in Derbyshire.

Other Settlements in Scarsdale

• Alfreton
• Ashover
• Barlborough
• Barlow
• Beighton
• Blingsby
• Bolsover
• Boythorpe
• Bramley [Vale]
• Brimington
• Calow
• Chesterfield
• Clowne
• Dore

The Meaning of the Name

The name Williamthorpe is of Scandinavian origin. Its final element derives from the Old Norse word þorp, an outlying or secondary farmstead. 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 outlying farm’.

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 Williamthorpe.

Listed Buildings Near Williamthorpe

Historic England records 1 listed building within about a mile of Williamthorpe. Listing protects structures of special architectural or historic interest, graded I (exceptional), II* (particularly important) and II.

Grade II

• Williamthorpe Hall Farmhouse Shop - 0.53 km

Nearby Domesday Settlements

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

• North? Wingfield - 1.0 km W
• Temple Normanton - 2.2 km NW
• Lowne - 2.8 km NE
• Owlcotes? - 2.8 km NE
• Stainsby - 3.0 km E
• Egstow - 3.0 km W