Domesday Book

The survey was carried out in 1086, and its findings were recorded in the Domesday Book.

Domesday Book in 1086, around sixteen years after the campaign, recorded extensive areas of Yorkshire as ‘waste’. This indicated land with little or no recorded productive value; it did not necessarily mean that every such place was completely empty. The contrast with earlier land values shows the scale of the region’s continuing economic weakness.

The Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, records landholding before and after the conquest. Comparing its entries shows that most land was in French hands by 1086. Many English people now held their land as tenants under incoming lords rather than under English landholders.

Domesday Book was a written record compiled from an inquiry into English landholding and resources under William the Conqueror. Its importance lay in bringing information together for royal government: land was a source of wealth, and knowing who held it helped the king establish what income he could expect.