as so many of you are not from this land here is some information of the domesday book~i hope you find it interesting.
the 1086 domesday book is a great land survey that was commissioned by William the Conqueror.
it was a way of assessing the extent of the land and resources in the country...
~records of landholders and tenants
~the amount of land they owned
~how many people occupied the land
~the amount of woodland, meadow, animals, fish and ploughs on the land, if any and other resources
~any buildings such as churches, castles, mills, salthouses etc
of course all of this would give him the the extent of the taxes he could raise!
The information collected was recorded by hand in two huge books~royal commissioners went around england collecting and recording the information from thousands of settlements with the country was split up into 7 regions.
national archivesthe 1086 domesday book is a great land survey that was commissioned by William the Conqueror.
it was a way of assessing the extent of the land and resources in the country...
~records of landholders and tenants
~the amount of land they owned
~how many people occupied the land
~the amount of woodland, meadow, animals, fish and ploughs on the land, if any and other resources
~any buildings such as churches, castles, mills, salthouses etc
of course all of this would give him the the extent of the taxes he could raise!
The information collected was recorded by hand in two huge books~royal commissioners went around england collecting and recording the information from thousands of settlements with the country was split up into 7 regions.
in London the information was combined with earlier records, from before and after the norman conquest, and was then entered into the final Domesday Book. the final version was handwritten by one unnamed official scribe, and checked by one other.
all of the information, and the final domesday book itself, was written in Latin.
***
it was not originally called the domeday book however, the name came about in the 12th century.
it was said that under the survey "there was no single hide nor a yard of land, nor indeed one ox nor one cow nor one pig which was left out".
the massive scale of the Domesday survey and the irreversible nature of the information collected had people comparing it to the Last Judgement, or 'Doomsday', described in the Bible.
***
the new forest had been created, or greatly enlarged, by william the conqueror to be used as his hunting lands and its been suggested that the name of my village derives from comes from a pre-norman conquest version, Brocenhyrst, meaning ‘broken wooded hill'~however in the domesday book it is known as Broceste with '6 smallholders and 4 slaves with 2½ ploughs; and woodland at 20 pigs'
the old church i visit regularly, St. Nicholas, was mentioned in the domesday book and it is the only new forest church recorded there. an earlier Saxon church was located on the same site~Saxon herring-bone work can be seen in the south wall of the old Nave~and not forgetting the ring ditch and 1000 plus year old yew standing there~
i am convinced that it was a sacred site long before the arrival of the saxons, especially given its place on a high hill
5 comments:
thankyou xo I am absolutely in awe of the ancient-ness of this land of yours, so much history at hand.. and I know my land is ancient too, but in a different way.. my land is wild, raw energy, while yours has a softness about it.. [for me anyway]
questions:
1. why do you visit the church? just wonderin'
2. how can you find names of people listed in the Domesday book [or can you?]
[I would love to study english history. I did high school english history, but would love to study it in depth..]
hi robyn~one of the reasons i go to this church (not for services or anything i just walk around and enjoy the peace) is that many people i have known over the years are there including my schoolfriend duncan who died when we were 18.
the main reason is because of the great rampart that was either a ring ditch (evidence of barrow or roundhouse) or circular enclosure (something larger that the above)that circles the church.
the early christians in their efforts to destroy the old religion of this land built their churches over the old sacred sites so they could not be used for their purpose~and in the same way re-named the old festivals.
BH and I both enjoy spending time roaming about old churches and church yards . . . and love history.
I've soo much to learn =( - had no idea how much about the Christian religion is based on the old ways until reading Brian Bates, and now find it fascinating.
Thanks for posting the lovely photos!
yes, totally understand about the early christians. that being said, I love to go sit in a catholic church and absorb the ritual that happens in the Mass [incense etc].. all the churches here are just built anywhere.. no old sacred sites. the old sacred sites here are from the indigenous Aboriginal people and they are truly Sacred spots.
[so you can actually see the round ditches? what century are they from?]
all the barrows and ring ditches here are bronze age robyn~c.2300 to 700 BC so very ancient.
we have about 6 within ten minutes of home and so i plan on visiting each and take photos to blog.
one os near the farm of an old best friend and i rememebr we used to play in it~not really knowing what it was!
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