Shipden in the Domesday Book

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William's Great Survey

The name Cromer does not appear in King William's Domesday record of 10861, but Shipden appears in three manors. Roger Bigot or Bigod, a knight of William's army, was a substantial owner of land, together with the Bishop of Thetford and St Benet's Abbey. While measurements were not as accurate as they are today, Shipden seems to have up to 500 acres; how much of this is present-day Cromer and how much is land lost to the sea, we cannot be sure.

Land of Roger Bigot

Households

Households: 1 freeman. 1 freeman. 5 smallholders.

An extract from the Domesday Folio

Land and resources

Ploughland:2 1 lord's plough teams. 0.5 men's plough teams.
Other resources: Meadow 1 acres. Woodland 30 pigs.

Valuation

Annual value to lord: 10 shillings in 1086; 8 shillings when acquired by the 1086 owner; 8 shillings in 1066.

Owners

Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Roger Bigot.

Harold and William meet in 1064. The Domesday Book lists lands held by Harold's lords and what happened to that land after William's conquest in 1066
Lord in 1086: Turstin.
Overlord in 1066: Osbern.
Lord in 1066: free man, one.

Land of Bishop William (of Thetford)

Households

Households: 3 villagers. 3 smallholders.

An extract from the Domesday Folio

Land and resources

Ploughland: 0.5 lord's plough teams. 1 men's plough teams.
Other resources: Meadow 1 acres. Woodland 6 pigs.

Valuation

Annual value to lord: 5 shillings and 2 pence in 1086; 10 shillings in 1066.

Owners

Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Bishop William (of Thetford).
Lord in 1086: Bishop William (of Thetford).
Lord in 1066: (Bishop) Almer (of Elmham).

Land of St Benet of Holme, abbey of

Households

Households: 1 villager. 3 smallholders.

An extract from the Domesday Folio

Land and resources

Ploughland: 1 lord's plough teams. 0.5 men's plough teams.

Valuation

Annual value to lord: 10 shillings and 7 pence in 1086.

Owners

Tenant-in-chief in 1086: St Benet of Holme, abbey of.
Lord in 1086: St Benet of Holme, abbey of.
Lord in 1066: St Benet of Holme, abbey of.

1To explore the Domesday Book further, we would recommend Open Domesday by Anne Powell-Smith. Anne's work makes use of the research undertaken by Professor J.J.N.Palmer, Andrew Ayton and other colleagues at the University of Hull. In the 1980s, they worked with ITV Schools to produce a sample database with mapping for Bedfordshire, and eventually put the whole Domesday Book online. In 2011 Anne undertook the major task of structuring the data for mapping, an invaluable resource for the historian. The data is held by Hull University under a CC-BY-SA licence.
2A ploughland is generally regarded as representing the amount of arable land that could be worked by a plough team of eight oxen in a single agricultural year, about 120 acres.

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