The History of the Parish of Welford
in West Berkshire

The Normans
1066 - 1272

The Domesday Book
1085

Duke William of France, invaded these shores in 1066, and on the 23rd of October of that year, defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings in Sussex. The English King Harold was slain and his body was carried to Waltham Abbey and there interred. This brought to a close the Anglo Saxon rule over England and William was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

William 1, more commonly referred to as William the Conqueror, laid a very heavy hand on the people of this country. Woe-betide those who defied him. William's rule extended to every corner and every household of the kingdom. The Normans proceeded to treated the Anglo-Saxons as harshly as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes had treated the Britons six centuries before.

Later in 1085, with his rule over England firmly secure, William wanted to know a lot more about the people he governed, so he ordered that a complete survey of the country be made. He sent commissioners into every shire to investigate and record the size and value of his kingdom, and to determine the fee or debt that was owed to him by his subjects, and the extent of every mans homage.

From the Norman's and their adherent's point of view the survey was a huge success. There had been no comparable survey taken of a medieval kingdom anywhere in the Western world, but the English didn't like it one bit. They hated it. To them it was a terrible work that formally transferred ownership of the land from the English to the French. It was likened to the sentence of the almighty on the day of judgement and was beyond appeal. They called it Domesday.

Welford did not escape the survey. This is hat it said:
'The abbey itself, (Abbey of Abingdon), holds Welford, and always held it. TRE it was assessed at 50 hides (1); and now at 37 hides. There is land for 24 ploughs. In demesne are 5 ploughs; and 33 villans and 34 bordars with 22 ploughs. There are 9 slaves, and 5 mills rendering 60s, and two churches, and 40 acres ofmeadow. (and) woodland for 20 pigs. TRE and afterwards, as now worth £27.'

The prefix TRE means that the land referred to was held in the time of King Edward, before the conquest.

Now what can we make of all this. Firstly, the Abbey of Abingdon continued to hold Welford after the Norman conquest. The abbot at the time of the conquest was one Eadred who had been appointed by King Harold, who was slain at the Battle of Hastings, but in 1071 he was deposed because some of his tenants had joined a rebellion at Ely against William. His place was taken by Addelelm, a monk from the ducal lands of Normandy.

At the time of King Edward, Welford was assessed at 50 hides, but at the time of the survey in 1086, 34 hides. The reason for this is not clear, but it has been suggested that the Abbey used the higher figure for the assessment of dues to be paid into their coffers. The assessment of the number of hides was very important to the holder of land as he had an obligation to provide men for the king's expeditions or wars at the rate of one thegn (2) for each 5 hides held.

The abbey handled this in one of two ways. They either made a payment to the king in lieu of service, or they offered a type of mercenary thegn to act on their behalf. These fellows were leased abbey land in payment for their service. One such fellow, by the name of William, held 4 hides at Weston at the time of Domesday.

The number of ploughs given is a measure of the arable land that was available. The type of plough referred to would probably need 8 oxen to pull it. In Welford there was land for 24 ploughs of which 5 were in demesne, meaning land devoted to the Abbey's profit worked by the peasants as part of their obligation. We can get a rough estimate of the number of people that lived in Welford at the time of the survey:

• 33 villans - the highest class of peasantry;
• 34 bordars - small holding cottagers of lesser standing than villans;
• 9 slaves who did the majority of the hard work.

There were probably other workers not mentioned, i.e. millers, tradespeple clergy etc., making up to say 100 people. These were all men, so double up for women and again for children we get a population of around 400 to 450 living in Welford in the early part of the 11th century.

Two churches are mentioned, one at Welford and one at Wickham. meadow and woodland were measured on the basis of that required to feed 20 pigs. Pigs are very fond of eating acorns from the woodland oaks.

The basis for the value of the Parish is not known, but at £27, (a lot of money in those days), it was a valuable asset to the Abbeys endowments and showed the relative wealth and standing of the Parish. 1. A hide was the amount of land necessary to sustain a peasant household. Sometimes reckoned to be 120 acres, but in fact the hide varied according to locality, date and government needs.

2. Thegn - a nobleman below the rank of earl. Local or estate owners with at least 5 hides of land and a house. Richer ones had grand halls behind large defences. The thegn was the backbone of the royal army.

Excerpt from the historical chronicles of Alan Garvey, © 1996

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