The Island of Lothingland
A Domesday and Hundred Roll Handbook
A dedicated publication for the Lowestoft Heritage Workshop Centre
based Domesday Surveysize: (1086 and Hundred Roll Taxation (1274)
Price £10 in aid of Lowestoft Heritage Workshop Centre. Located in Wildes Score
Copies available from David Butcher
(Fact-sheet)
1) to present the information (largely in tabulated form) gathered in these two
major enquiries of 1086 and 1274 and to make it readily accessible, thereby
enabling significant changes in the local landscape to be recognised;
2) to create a deeper understanding of the Lothingland area as it appears today;
3) to assist local historians and family researchers in their study of earlier
communities at a time when documentary sources were limited in number and
1) general remarks on the nature and development of Lothingand Half-hundred and
its relationship with neighbouring Mutford; 2) discussion of the purpose of the
Domesday Survey of 1086 and the Hundred Roll enquiry of 1274; 3) comments on
the synthesis of the two sets of material.
analysis of the Domesday data relating
to the Half-hundred. 1) Holdings and their values; 2) land, livestock and other
assets; 3) population numbers; 4) names of land-holders, where stated; 5) overlordship
and fealty; 6) geld (tax) payments per community; 7) composite statistics for
the seventeen named communities, recording estates, assets and population; 8) area
and soil-types of individual settlements; 9) overall pattern of landholding; 10) place-name
derivation, etymology and analysis; 11) disappearance of six communities
(Akethorpe, Browston, Caldecot, Dunston, Gapton and Newton) and formation of
six new ones (Ashby, Blundeston, Bradwell, Gunton, Oulton and Southtown); 12) two
maps to illustrate these changes; 13) post-Domesday variant spellings of the
seventeen settlements; 14) table of the Domesday text references used. Bullet-pointed notes used throughout to
comment on the data presented.
analysis of the Hundred Roll data relating to the Half-hundred. 1) List of the
free tenements and their tenants’ names; 2) number of free tenements per
settlement; 3) monarchs referred to in connection with previous tenants; 4) Domesday
holdings and their overall arable acreages; 5) Domesday holdings and associated
freemen; 6) Hundred Roll parishes and lesser settlements, with map (forty-one named
places in all); 7) free tenement location(s); 8) details and analysis of
tenancy types; 9) rental values; 10) topographical relationship of all the
settlements named; 11) place-name derivation, etymology and analysis; 12) community
development/survival; 13) alphabetical list (by surname) of all free tenement
holders, with variants of tenure identified; 14) other tenant activity
recorded; 15) geographical location of free tenements and surname association
of the holders. Bullet-pointed notes used
throughout to comment on the data presented.
Chapter Three Hundred Roll information on the township of
Gorleston. 1) Royal demesne; 2) land held in villeinage; 3) sale of land held
in villeinage and increase in the number of house-plots; 4) other land
(including marsh) and local features; 5) alphabetical list (by surname) of all
Gorleston land-holders; 6) tenants holding strips in the Northtown common field,
alphabetically arranged by surname. Information on the town of Lowestoft. 1) Royal
demesne, 2) land held in villeinage; 3) outlying lands, turbary, marsh and
other local features; 4) alphabetical list (by surname) of all Lowestoft
land-holders. 5) Details relating to the Manor of Lothingland. 6) Other local
manorial rights and privileges. Bullet-pointed
notes used throughout to comment on the data presented
Chapter Four
details relating to the medieval manors of Akethorpe, Ashby, Belton,
Blundeston, Bradwell, Browston, Burgh Castle, Caldecot, Corton, Dunston,
Flixton, Fritton, Gapton, Gorleston, Gunton, Herringfleet, Hopton, Lothingland
Half-hundred, Lound, Lowestoft, Newton, Oulton and Somerleyton.</p>
Appendix 1:etymological surname and forename analysis of
the Half-hundred’s free tenants, arranged alphabetically and categorised into
possible sources of origin.
Appendix 2
etymological surname and forename analysis of the Gorleston tenants, arranged
alphabetically and categorised into possible sources of origin.
Appendix 3
etymological surname and forename analysis of the Northtown common-field
tenants, arranged alphabetically and categorised into possible sources of
origin.
Appendix 4
etymological surname and forename analysis of the Lowestoft tenants, arranged
alphabetically and categorised into possible sources of origin.
Appendix 5 description of the Lothingland manorial courts’
structure and function, c. 1600-1700.
Select Bibliography
a list of the sources used to create the handbook.