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.

In 1086 Flitton was owned by a man named Robert, son of Fafiton. This Norman or Frenchman had five hides, three villagers, three smallholders and four slaves, a total of ten. These were heads of household and to find the true population one must multiply this figure by a factor of at least four, suggesting a small settlement of around forty people. There was also woodland for fifty pigs. In 1066 Flitton had belonged to Alwin Horn, a thegn of King Edward the Confessor and it had been worth a hundred shillings. When Robert acquired it the manor was only worth sixty shillings, as it was in 1086. A popuar theory is that falls in value may be accounted for by depredations by Norman armies moving north to quash rebellions following William I's coronation in 1066.