Chapter VII - ANNUAL VALUES

Summary

One of the questions about a manor in the preamble to the Ely Inquest was: ‘How much was the whole worth, and how much is it worth now?’ The list of questions, moreover, is followed by a general statement to the effect that the information should be provided for three dates – 1066, ‘afterwards’ and 1086 (see pp. 4–5). Broadly speaking, the answers from the counties within each circuit show similar features, and indicate annual values either at two or at three dates (Fig. 71). The double-valuation counties sometimes include a number of entries with three valuations – e.g. about 30% of the entries for Shropshire, 18% for Herefordshire, 17% for Warwickshire, 13% for Oxfordshire and 12% for Worcestershire. To these generalisations there are exceptions. Some entries are incomplete, and give only one valuation, e.g. several on folio 182b for Herefordshire seem to refer only to 1086; other single values, on the other hand, clearly refer only to 1066. Occasionally when Domesday Book gives only one value, the Exeter text shows that it refers to two dates. No valuation is given for a number of holdings, e.g. for Radwell (141) in Hertfordshire and for Chilton (59, 61b) in Berkshire, but many of these formed part of manorial complexes and their values were included in grand totals.