Felmersham in 1086

Domesday Book was commissioned by William the Conqueror (1066-1087) at Christmas 1085. It was designed to show who held every piece of land in the newly conquered Kingdom of England. It was known colloquially as the Domesday Book because it was seen as being as final as the Last Judgement and as difficult to conceal things from. The book does not cover the whole country - Cumberland, Durham, Northumberland, and Westmorland were omitted and London and Winchester likewise, along with some other towns. A separate book, called Little Domesday covered the counties of Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk and, despite its name, it is actually bigger and more detailed than the Great Domesday Book containing the other counties.

The Domesday Book records two separate manors in Felmersham. A man named Gilbert, son of Solomon held seven and a half hides. He is only known to history from this entry and one other - for Meppershall. His holding in Felmersham included four villagers and six smallholders and was valued at 100 shillings. It had been worth £12 in 1066, when it was owned by six freemen, and when Gilbert acquired it. Such a serious loss of value (more than half) may well have been due to depredations by Norman armies heading north and east to quell rebellions, living off the land and treating the country as semi-hostile.

The other holding belonged to Countess Judith, William’s niece. She had three and a half hides and had a tenant called Gilbert, almost certainly our friend Gilbert, son of Solomon. This holding contained two villagers and four smallholders. There was also a mill worth ten shillings on the River Great Ouse. In 1066 it had been held by Alli, a thegn of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) and had been worth 100 shillings, the same as when Judith acquired it. By 1086 the value had fallen to £3.

The total number of villagers and smallholders in Felmersham is thus sixteen. This number represents the heads of household. To get an idea of the total population it is probably necessary to multiply this figure by a factor of at least four suggesting a total population to somewhere around sixty four.