Domesday Malhamdale
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The Great Domesday Book, which contains the Malhamdale entries, is held at the National Archives ref. E31/2/2 and the page images and translations are available to download via their Documents Online service. All the entries for Malhamdale are covered by page images of the following four folios: 301v; 322r; 332r and 380r. The National Archive’s scans and transcripts are from the Editions Alecto Link no longer exists 19/2/2021 Great and Little Domesday.
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So you can find the earliest written references to the Malhamdale townships in the Domesday Book, drawn up in 1086 for William the Conqueror. A typical example of the content of Domesday for this area is shown by these two examples which show the holdings in Malham, firstly of William de Percy:
In Swinden, Hellifield , Malham and Coniston [Cold] there are 13 and a half caracutes taxable.
Bjornulfr had the manors. Now William de Percy has [them] and they are “waste”.
A ‘carucate’, or ploughland, was variable in size around the country, depending on the quality and situation of the land, but in Malham it consisted of eight oxgangs. An oxgang was also a variable and in Malham was about twenty acres, so a Malham carucate was 160 acres. The second entry shows the extensive holdings of Earl Edwin:
In Bolton [Abbey] Earl Edwin had ……..
3 Caracutes in Malham ……
They are “waste”
You can also see amongst his holdings in Craven that Earl Edwin held similar amounts of land in Malhamdale at Otterburn, Scosthrop, Coniston (Cold) and Hanlth.
So Domesday seems to show that the area being farmed in Malham township amounted to around 960 acres. This is all described as ‘vasta’ in Latin, which may mean ‘devastated’ as some authors such as TD Whitaker have suggested, because William had carried out a severe punitive expedition across the north some twenty years earlier following a rebellion. This is known as The Harrying of the North in 1069-70 and is suggested to have laid waste to as much as a quarter of the land in the northern counties. The term could also simply mean ‘not cultivated’ , but used as pastureland, or the term was sometimes used for manors simply not paying geld for one reason or another.
The end of the 11th Century may have brought the first known written references to Malhamdale places, but after the arrival of the Normans, the country soon saw the founding of the many great monasteries, which by the thirteenth century completely controlled the township of Malham; with Fountains Abbey holding four carucates (640 acres), and Bolton Priory, two (320 acres). These extensive ‘religeous businesses’ created a wealth of documentary information in which Malham features, as the local area became an important generator of monastic wealth. This influence was also repeated in other parts of Malhamdale, with the smaller Abbeys of West Dereham in Norfolk, Sawley and Furness also having interests in this corner of the Yorkshire Dales.
TD Whitaker in his History of Craven says that: of the townships or manors of Malgum, Chirchebi, Oterburne, Airtone, Scotorp, and Caltun, only Malgum alone was of the original fee of W. de Perci; the rest were included in the Terra Rogeri Pictaviensis. Malgum was surveyed, together with Swindene, Helgefelt, and Conningstone, making in all 12 and a half caracutes and Chircheby 2 caracutes under Giggleswick, of which it was a member . The rest are given as follows :-
Manor.-In Otreburne (Otterburn) Gamelbar had three carucates to be taxed .
Manor.-In Airtone (Airton) Arnebrand had four carucates to be taxed .
Manor.-In Scotorp (Scosthorp) Archil and Orm. had three carucates to be taxed.
Two manors.-In Caltun (Calton) Gospatric and Glumer had four carucates to be taxed. Erneis had it, but now it is in the castellate of Roger.
TD Whitaker continues: The castellate of Roger, I have already proved to be that of Clitheroe ; Calton, therefore, in the reign of the Conqueror, was a member of the honour of Clitheroe. But as Roger of Poitou, soon after this, time, alienated all his possessions in Craven (with one or two trifling exceptions) to the Percies, the whole parish, from the time of that alienation to the present, has constituted part of the Percy fee, now belonging to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire.
Malhamdale lands & landowners 1086
| Township | Description in Domesday | |
| Malham | Malgon
Malgun |
Manor and Berewicks. – In Suindene, (Swinden) and Helgefelt, (Hellifield) and Malgun, (Malham) and Cuningestone, (Conifton-Cold) thirteen carucates and a half to be taxed. These were Bernulfs; William de Percy now has them, and they are “waste”.
Manor. – In Boldetone, (Bolton Abbey) Earl Edwin had six carucates of land to be taxed. Soke. – Otreburne (Otterburn) three carucates, Scotorp (Scoflhorp) three carucates, Malgun (Malham) three carucates, Coneghestone (Conniftone) three carucates……… To be taxed together seventy-seven carucates. They are “waste”. |
| Kirkby Malham | Chirchebi | Manor. – In Giggleswick Feigr had …….,
Chirbie 2 caracutes…….. Roger of Poitu now has (it). |
| Hanlith | Hanelif
Hangelif |
Manor. – In Boldetone, (Bolton Abbey) Earl Edwin had six carucates of land to be taxed. ………
Soke.- Anleie (Aneley) two carucates, Hangelif (Hanlith) three carucates. To be taxed together seventy-seven carucates. They are “waste”. |
| Scosthrop | Scotorp | 2 Manors. – In Scotorp (Scofthorp) Archil and Orm had three carucatesto be taxed.
Manor. – In Boldetone, (Bolton Abbey) Earl Edwin had six carucates of land to be taxed. Soke. – Otreburne (Otterburn) three carucates, Scotorp (Scosthorp) three carucates, Malgun (Malham) three carucates, Coneghestone (Conniftone) three carucates……… To be taxed together seventy-seven carucates. They are “waste”. |
| Airton | Airtone | Manor. – In Airtone (Airton) Arnebrand had four carucates to be taxed. |
| Calton | Caltun | Two manors. – In Caltun Gospatric and Glumer had four carucates to be taxed. Erneis had it, but now it is in the castellate of Roger (of Poitou). |
| Otterburn | Otreburne | Manor. – In Otreburne Gamelbar had three carucates to be taxed .
Manor. – In Boldetone, (Bolton Abbey) Earl Edwin had six carucates of land to be taxed. Soke. – Otreburne (Otterburn) three carucates, Scotorp (Scoflhorp) three carucates, Malgun (Malham) three carucates, Coneghestone (Conniftone) three carucates……… To be taxed together seventy-seven carucates. They are “waste”. |
| Coniston Cold | Coneghestone
Coningeston Cuningestone |
Manor. – In Boldetone, (Bolton Abbey) Earl Edwin had six carucates of land to be taxed.
Soke. – Otreburne (Otterburn) three carucates, Scotorp (Scoflhorp) three carucates, Malgun (Malham) three carucates, Coneghestone (Conniftone) three carucates……… To be taxed together seventy-seven carucates. They are “waste”. Manor and Berewicks. – In Suindene, (Swinden) and Helgefelt, (Hellifield) and Malgun, (Malham) and Cuningestone, (Conifton-Cold) thirteen carucates and a half to be taxed. These were Bernulfs; William de Percy now has them, and they are “waste”. In Cuningestone (Conistone) William de Percy held two carucates to be taxed, but Roger of Poitou has it. |
| Eshton | Estune | Manor. – In Estune (Eshton) Archil and Uflred had six carucates to be taxed. |
| Winterburn | Witreburne | Manor. – In Witreburne (Winterburn) Torfin had three carucates of land to be taxed. Roger of Pictou now has it. |
| Bordley | Borelaie | Manor. – In Borelaie (Bordley) Suartcol had two carucates to be taxed. |
You can download a free, searchable, copy of the 19th century transcription of the Yorkshire Domesday entries used to create this table for Malhamdale. It was transcribed by the Rev. William Bawdwen and is available from
Archive.org
Sources :
Rev W Bawdwen,
Translation of Domesday for Yorkshire
, Sheardown, Doncaster 1809
JW Morkill, The Parish of Kirkby Malhamdale , Bellows, Gloucester, 1933
TD Whitaker, History of Craven , 3rd ed, Dodgson, Leeds, 1878
Malhamdale Local History Group 