Doomsday

Don’t worry I have not joined an end of the world cult, but the Doomsday Book has just gone on line . I was sitting at the computer this morning, debating religion with Euan Semple. He had just finished two bottles of red wine (I assume in company) and I had woken up and was in recovery from good conversation and a too liberal consumption of one of the best 18 year old Islay Malts I have tasted (and this is a field in which I have considerable experience). Either way, the argument terminated for the moment by Euan’s need for sleep, I was web surfing as an excuse to avoid starting work and found the Doomsday Book. Curious I bought the entry for the village in which I live, now known as Lockeridge,. In 1086 it was Locherige and described as follows:

Durand himself holds LOCKERIDGE. Almær held it TRE, and it paid geld for 2 hides. There is land for 1 plough. Of this 1 hide is in demesne. There is 1 villan and 2 bordars with 1 slave, and 1 acre of meadow, and 12 acres of pasture and 6 acres of woodland. It was worth 40s ; now 30s.

It cost me £3.50 for a scan of the actual page with the english translation above and I got all the surrounding villages for the same price. Great site and lots of additional material on it. And for those who don’t know; Saxon resistance to the Norman conquest lasted a decade at most from 1066, the Welsh held out until the 13th Century.