This is an analysis of the Domesday Book from the perspective of a surveyor and valuer. Most of the logistical problems encountered by the Domesday surveyors are universal.
The main aim of this work is to calculate a timetable for the creation of the Domesday survey. In order to do so, it is necessary to analyse the text and to use ‘reverse engineering’ to determine the survey’s purpose, what data was collected, the volume of it and how it was used.
Clearly, the purpose was fiscal because the text and the format of the data are not usable as either a land register or an estate management terrier. The data captured are much more narrowly based than usually acknowledged. It is land-based and excludes the built environment. It is not a complete record of either the agricultural workforce or livestock numbers.
Logistics indicate that the survey could not have been fully completed within the year of 1086. It is highly likely that substantial preparatory work had been done before the Christmas meeting in 1085. The final version in a single hand could not have been completed before King William’s death in September 1087.
The Domesday survey was a revaluation of the hidage assessment system using the same underlying concept and the same administrative machinery, but updating the data and adding monetary values. Although the survey provided a sound cadastre, it was never used to collect tax directly. It was therefore a fiscal failure.

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of boxes, figures and tables
• Glossary of terms
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Summary
• Preface
• 1. A surveyor’s perspective
  • 1.1 Property list
  • 1.2 Opinions and anachronisms
  • 1.3 Agricultural land tenure
  • 1.4 Hierarchy of demesnes
  • 1.5 Quota and quantum taxes
  • 1.6 Consistency
  • 1.7 Geographic focus of the study
  • 1.8 Basic facts
  • 1.9 Mass appraisal
  • 1.10 Timescale: first subjective expectations
• 2. Why was the Domesday survey undertaken?
  • 2.1 The issues
  • 2.2 The options
  • 2.3 Is the Domesday survey a land register?
  • 2.4 Estate terriers
  • 2.5 Valuation lists for taxation
  • 2.6 The opinions of others
  • 2.7 The political incentives
  • 2.8 Conclusions about the purpose of the survey
• 3. What does Domesday record?
  • 3.1 The two essential elements
  • 3.2 Continual changes
  • 3.3 Comparing Domesday with other evidence
  • 3.4 The geographical ownership patterns
  • 3.5 What are the ad valorem property tax options?
  • 3.6 An analysis of the data
  • 3.7 No hidden evidence
  • 3.8 Summary of procedures
  • 3.9 Hides and ploughlands
  • 3.10 What was omitted from the survey?
  • 3.11 No dwelling houses
  • 3.12 No agricultural buildings
  • 3.13 No other buildings
  • 3.14 Recording other supporting agricultural assets
  • 3.15 Non-agricultural assets
  • 3.16 Resulting restricted tax base
  • 3.17 Identifying the underlying philosophy
  • 3.18 Woodland
  • 3.19 Summary of what is assessed
  • 3.20 Rationale for focus on arable land
  • 3.21 The hide
• 4. Valuation
  • 4.1 Annual sums and not capital values
  • 4.2 What annual sums?
  • 4.3 Rents and renting
  • 4.4 Rental value or rent passing
  • 4.5 Ad firmam
  • 4.6 Actual or potential ploughlands
  • 4.7 Rental values
  • 4.8 Rental value dispersion
  • 4.9 The main factors
  • 4.10 Soil and land quality
  • 4.11 Assessing agricultural potential
  • 4.12 Exceptions and anomalies
  • 4.13 King’s direct holdings
  • 4.14 TRE assessments
  • 4.15 Assessments when acquired
  • 4.16 Quality of the assets
  • 4.17 Unresolved problems: summary
  • 4.18 Determining rental levels in Domesday
  • 4.19 No clear valuation method
  • 4.20 Summarised basis of how the manors were assessed
• 5. The Boroughs
  • 5.1 Difficulties of analysis
  • 5.2 Summary of borough analyses
  • 5.3 Comparison with Burghal Hidages
  • 5.4 Collecting the information
  • 5.5 Use and purpose
  • 5.6 Incomplete record
• 6. The logistics
  • 6.1 The logistic framework
  • 6.2 Logistical issues
  • 6.3 Physical inspections
  • 6.4 The sequence of events
  • 6.5 The ICC as a precedent
  • 6.6 Preparatory stages before the fieldwork
  • 6.7 Logistics of the field surveys
  • 6.8 Logistics of judicial hearings
  • 6.9 The logistics of the editing and production of the written list
  • 6.10 Modern comparisons
  • 6.11 Size of the task
  • 6.12 The constraints
  • 6.13 The calculations
  • 6.14 Conclusions about timetable
• 7. Conclusions
  • 7.1 What did Domesday achieve?
  • 7.2 Domesday considered in the historic context of taxation
  • 7.3 Narrow focus of Domesday
  • 7.4 Reflections on value
  • 7.5 Reflections on the logistics and timetable
  • 7.6 Final summary
• Appendix A. Agricultural and estate management in the 11th century
• Appendix B. Agricultural labour and the Domesday survey
• Appendix C. Agriculture, livestock and land use
• Appendix D. Landholders and totals
• Appendix E. Cornish comparison
• Appendix F. Capital sales evidence
• Appendix G. Cambridgeshire Shire Reeve Picot’s property empire
• Appendix H. Surveying a village
• Bibliography