Domesday Survey

The Domesday Survey was commissioned by William the Conquerer following the Norman invasion in 1066. Published in 1086, the survey recorded who owned what land and gave it a value for tax purposes. To gather the information, the King sent commissioners out into the kingdom to take evidence on oath ‘from the sheriff; from the barons and their Frenchmen and from the whole Hundred, the priests, the reeves and six villagers from each village’ (text from the Ely volume of the Domesday Book).

Land of Peterborough Abbey
The Church itself holds in STOCHE Hundred COTEINGHAM. 7 hides. Land for 14 ploughs, in lordship 2; 4 slaves; 29 villagers and 10 smallholders with 10 ploughs. A mill at 40d; meadow, 12 acres; woodland 1 league long and 1/2 league wide. The value was 10s; now 60s.

  • Stoche (Stoke) Hundred. Since Anglo Saxon times, the country’s parishes had been split into administrative districts called Hundreds, so called because they contained 100 hides.
  • 7 hides. A hide was both a measure of land and a unit of tax measurement. Notionally, a hide was the amount of land that would support one peasant family. It’s actual size therefore varied depending on how fertile the land was, but is estimated to be around 120 acres. If this is this case, Cottingham would have covered approximately 840 acres, assuming that there was no waste land (i.e. land not fit for agricultural use) that was not assessed for tax. The word hide comes from the old English hi(gi)d, from hiw-, hig-, meaning ‘household’. Each hide was split into four virgates, and each virgate into four furlongs.
  • Land for 14 ploughs. This is another measure of land, equal to the amount of land that could be ploughed by an eight-ox plough team in one day.
  • In lordship 2. This indicates that the Lord of the Manor (at this time the Abbot of Peterborough), retained 2 plough lands for his own use.
  • 4 slaves. A slave was a man or woman who owed personal service to another, and was not free to move home or change their job.
  • 29 villagers and 10 smallholders with 10 ploughs. Villagers and smallholders were landholders in the village, with a villager having held more land than a smallholder. There were 39 landholding peasant families (i.e. not individuals) in the village at the time of the Domesday Survey.
  • A mill. This would have referred to a water mill as windmills did not come into operation until long after the survey.
  • Woodland 1 league long and 1/2 league long. A league is a measure of land equal to around three miles or five kilometres.
  • The value was 10s, now 60s. Cottingham was valued at 60 shillings (£3) in 1086, an increase from its 1066 value of 10 shillings (50 pence!).
  • As there is no ‘owner at the time of King Edward the Confessor’ recorded, we can assume that Peterborough Abbey also owned Cottingham prior to the Domesday Survey.
  • Further reading

    You can view the full Domesday entry for Northamptonshire at Archives.org.uk

    See the Domesdaybookonline for more background, lists of local landowners and place name spellings