DOMESDAY SURVEY 



Minster (nos. 21 and xxvii), assessed at h hide, never paid geld although it did not belong 

 to the night's farm of Wimborne, and other exemptions are occasionally recorded.^^ 

 The four Dorset boroughs were assessed at a total of 45 hides, but they contributed to the 

 upkeep of the royal housecarls and were not included in the total assessment of the shire. 



There were 39 hundreds in Dorset at this period, which may suggest an original 

 assessment of about 3,900 hides, but this seems unlikely. The hidages recorded in the 

 various earlier charters which can be compared with Domesday assessments do not 

 suggest any reduction in the hidage. The abbey of Shaftesbury, for example, received 

 from King Alfred 100 hides, consisting of Donhead St. Andrew (Wihs.) and the manors 

 which in 1086 formed the hundreds of Handley and Sixpenny. The hundred of 

 Handley consisted solely of the manor of that name, assessed at 20 hides, the hundred 

 of Sixpenny contained 53 hides, and Donhead St. Andrew was assessed at 40 hides, which 

 is rather more than the total hidage given by Alfred, not less. 3° Only three Dorset 

 hundreds contained more than 100 hides, Uggescombe with 104 hides, Beaminster 

 with 105 hides, and CuUifordtree with 109 hides, while the tiny hundred of Redhone 

 contained only 7 hides. 



Several hundreds contained approximately 50 hides,^' and it is noticeable that some 

 of these hundreds were later amalgamated. The Domesday hundred of Celberge (51 

 hides) became part of Winfrith hundred (49 hides), thus forming one unit of 100 

 hides; Stane (63 hides) was amalgamated with Modbury (63 hides); and Canendone 

 (48 hides) became part of Badbury (32 hides). This suggests that there had been a 

 division of the original hundreds (if indeed the Dorset hundreds ever did approximate 

 to 100 hides) rather than a reduction in the assessment, which in any case is not indi- 

 cated by any earlier evidence. Dorset was not included in the County Hidage, compiled 

 earlier in the nth century, but the earliest text of the Burghal Hidage, dating from the 

 early loth century,^^ includes Wareham, to which it assigns 1,600 hides, and Brydian 

 (which may be identified with either Bridport or Bredy), to which it assigns 760 hides. 

 These figures yield a total of 2,360 hides, some 56 more than the Domesday figure. The 

 four Dorset boroughs in 1086 were assessed at a total of 45 hides, which would largely 

 account for this discrepancy. Later texts of the Burghal Hidage omit Wareham and 

 Brydian, but include Shaftesbury, to which they assign 700 hides. The Domesday 

 hidage can also be compared with the actual amount of geld collected in 1084. At the 

 end of the Dorset Geld Rolls it is stated that the king received ;(^4i5 8^. ()\d., the geld 

 on approximately 1,394 hides. The money recorded in the individual hundred accounts 

 amounts to ^^2,2 6s. ^hd., the geld on approximately 1,407 hides. About 900 hides were 

 therefore exempt in 1084, which can be accounted for by the baronial demesnes, 

 amounting to approximately 750 hides, and by the various exemptions and defaults, 

 amounting to approximately 130 hides. 



The system of assessment in Dorset shows traces of artificiality in the number of 

 manors assessed at multiples or fractions of 5 hides. About one-fifth of all the manors 

 in Dorset were assessed on this principle, and this figure can be broken down as 

 follows : 



2\ h. 5 h. 10 h. 15 h. 20 h. 25 h. 30 h. 

 21 44 25 5 5 I 2 



In all, 103 out of 515 manors were assessed on a 5-hide basis, and in addition some 

 divided vills add up to 5-hide units as is shown in Table i. 



" See pp. 119-20. (49); Celeberge (41); Newton (47); Knowlton (36); Six- 



'" See p. 42. penny (50); Brownshall (32); Winfrith (49); Celberge ($1). 



3' Yetminster (47 hides) ; Albretesberge (47) ; Canendone " A. S. Robertson, Anglo-Saxon Charters, 246-8 and 



(48); Badbury (32); Stane (63); Tollerford (59); Here nn. 



