Histon in the Domesday Book

HISTON answers for 261/2 hides.

  • This manor is one of the 12 lordship manors of the Bishopric of Lincoln.

  • Bishop Remigius also holds 17 hides less 1 virgate. Land for 13 ploughs.

  • In lordship 8 hides; 2 ploughs there; a third possible.

  • 18 villagers and 18 smallholders with 9 ploughs; a tenth possible.

  • 4 cottagers; 4 slaves.

  • Meadow for 13 ploughs; pasture for the village livestock.

  • Total value £10; when acquired £12; before 1066 £14.

Of the 261/2 hides

  • Picot holds 9 hides and 3 virgates from the Bishop.

  • Land for 6 ploughs. In lordship 1 plough; a second possible.

  • 10 villager and 9 cottagers with 2 ploughs; another 2 possible.

  • Meadow for 6 ploughs; pasture for the village livestock.

  • Value £4; when acquired £6; before 1066 £7.

  • 9 Freemen held this land; they could sell, but the jurisdiction remained with the Bishop.

In the same village Bishop Remigius

  • Holds 1 hide and 1 virgate and 2 parts of 1 virgate.

  • Land for 1 plough, but the plough is not there.

  • 1 villager; 1 cottager.

  • Meadow for 1 plough.

  • Value 5s; when acquired 10s; before 1066 20s.

  • Wulfwin, the Abbot of Ely’s man, held this land; he paid a sester of honey a year.

  • Bishop Remigius annexed this land in the Abbot’s despite, as the Hundred testifies.

  • Picot the Sheriff holds it from the Bishop.

Definitions used:

  • Hide –

    • Reckoned in the Domesday Book to be about 120 fiscal acres

  • Virgate

    • One quarter of a hide

  • Hundred

    • Administrative district whose assembly of notables and village representatives usually met once a month

  • Plough

    • Usually a plough team with 8 oxen and a plough

For more information, see the Domesday Book