Possible Bowles Ancestor References in the Domesday Book of 1086
Back to The Norman Origin of the Bolles of Swineshead? or A Norman Origin of The Bowles Surname
The most prominent possible Bowles ancestor in the book is a Norman Lord
with a great many landholder entries, Lord
Roger de Busli of Tickhill, Yorkshire.
His line can be traced thru his brother
Ernold de Builli into Bedfordshire where their surname
gradually changed from de Busli/de Builli to de Boelly, to
Bowelley and to Bowel all on the same landholding which went out of the
family in 1341 but soon after that we find Bowles nearby.
The Bedfordshire line also spread to Staffordshire and Herefordshire
and possibly to Buckinghamshire, Nottinghamshire, and
.
See Lord Roger de Busli of Tickhill
and Roger de Bully’s Holdings in the
Domesday Book of 1086
Another
possible ancestor who appears in the Domesday Book is a Saxon priest named
Bolle. He was a major
landholder in Dorset prior to the conquest.
His importance is shown by his unusual retention of much of his land
after the conquest, holding it directly under the new King William.
There is no mention of a wife and family but there was no prohibition
against priests marrying at that time.
Bolle the Saxon Priest
Bolla, Bollo or Bolle the priest shows up in Dorset,
on page 7:
Atrim, Dorset, 6 households, assessed 2 geld units, 1 villager, 3
smallholders, 2 slaves, 2 ploughlands, 5 acres meadow, 3 furlongs woodland,
1 cobs, 2 cattle, 3 sheep, Lord: Bolle the priest;
Tenant in chief: Abbey of Abbotsbury St. Peter
First entry is for Bere Regis, Dorset (no connection to Bolle)
Second entry is for Winfrith [Newburgh], Dorset, Lord: Bolle the priest,
Tenant-in-chief: Bolle the priest, 17.3 households, assessed 0.3 geld units,
.5 lord’s plough teams, 1 church, then it says ‘The King’s land with Bolle
the priest holding the church.’
And on Page 18
Place: Mappowder, Dorset, Lord: Bolle the priest, Tenant-in-Chief: Bolle the
priest, 33.3 households, assessed 8.3 geld units, 8 villagers, 3
smallholders, 2 slaves, 5 ploughlands, 2 lord’s plough teams, 3 men’s plough
teams, 16 acres meadow, 3 furlongs woodland
Place: Chickerell, Dorset, Lord: Bolle the priest, Tenant-in-Chief: Bolle
the priest, 11 households, assessed 3.1 geld units, 1 villagers, 6
smallholders, 4 slaves, 3 ploughlands, 3 lord’s plough teams, 6 acres
meadow, 7 furlongs pasture.
The Dorset For You web
site had the following in their Winfrith description (although the page has
since been changed):
Winfrith was unusual among Dorset parishes in having a church mentioned in
Domesday book. The incumbent
was Bolla (or Bolle) the priest, who also owned one virgate of land and half
a plough; all told, this was
worth ten shillings. Bolla also had the churches of Puddletown, Chaldon and
Fleet, so he must have been a busy man!
He seems to have been a Saxon priest:
In 1066 he is listed only as Lord of Mappowder. In 1086 he is listed as Lord of Mappowder, Chickerell, Puddletown, Fleet, Shilvinghampton, Atrim, Chaldon and West Chaldron and Winfrith Newburgh. All in Dorset.
There was also a landholder named Bole who, together with a person named
Bernac, held three manors in Lincolnshire.
They were likely pre-conquest lords of this land whom King William
had allowed to retain a portion of their landholdings.
Bole, possibly a Viking
A ‘Bernac and Bole’ are recorded as holding three manors in Lincolnshire
(Wiuelestorp, Opetorp and Helpericham) (Wilsthorpe, Obthorpe and
Helpringham) when the Normans arrived in 1066 but are not listed in the
Domesday Survey of 1086.
In 1066 what is now Lincolnshire was part of an extensive Viking settlement
in England called the Danelaw.
Earlier that year the King of England, Edward the Confessor, had died
leaving no clear successor.
Harald Godwinson assumed the throne but was challenged by Harald Hardrada of
Norway who landed in the Danelaw.
He was defeated by Harald Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge
but then Harald was defeated just three weeks later when William of
Normandy’s forces landed.
Bole
had landholdings at Market Deeping in Domesday, about 4 miles from Barnack.
From:
http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~stanier/G-DeepingFen.html#liberniger
Deeping Fen - LIN ENG
OS Grid Reference: 52°44'N 0°17'W
Name Origin: Old English deoping deep fen.
Domesday Book:
LAND OF ALFRED OF LINCOLN
In ESTDEPINGE 4 bovates of land taxable. Land for ½ plough. A jurisdiction
of this manor. 6 villagers and 2 smallholders have 1½ ploughs and meadow, 20
acres; 1 fishery, 5d.
LAND OF GODFREY OF CAMBRAI
In WEST DEPING Atsurr had 2½ carucates of land taxable. Land for as many
ploughs. Ælmer has as much land, 2½ carucates taxable. Land for as many
ploughs. Godfrey of Cambrai has 10 villagers who have 3 ploughs. 4 mills,
40s; meadow, 100 acres; underwood, 8 acres. Value before 1066 £8; now 6.
Exactions 10s.
In EST DEPINGE Ælmer, Arnbjorn and Frithgestr had 3 carucates of land and 6
bovates taxable. Land for as many ploughs and oxen. Two of Godfrey's men
have 2 ploughs. 19 villagers and 4 smallholders who have 7 ploughs. Meadow,
93 acres. Value before 1066 and now, 100s. Exactions 35s.
St Peter's of Peterborough
also
had jurisdiction over 5 manors [the latin is here abbreviated to the point
of confusion. Some translators have preferred "... had 5 sokemen upon 5
manors"] of 2 carucates of land and 6 bovates taxable. Land for as many
ploughs and oxen. Two of Godfrey's men have 1½ ploughs. 12 villagers with 3½
ploughs. 1 fishery, 12d; meadow, 70 acres. Value before 1066, 60s; now 50.
Exactions 12s.
In Helpringham Atsurr had 1 church in which lie 4 bovates of land and 4
acres of meadow. Godfrey has it; it lies in DEPINGE.
CLAIMS IN KESTEVEN
Ness Wapentake and the whole Riding have testified that the land of Wulfgeat
and his mother Wulfflaed was not Arnbjorn's, his sororius [which may mean
"sister's husband", "wife's brother", or "sister's son"], and that he only
had it in charge until Wulfgeat could hold the land: that is 7 carucates in
Uffington, 6½ carucates in Tallington, 6 bovates in Casewick, and 4 bovates
½ carucate — in ESTDEPING.
One of Godfrey’s two men may be Bole:
The Liber Niger of Peterborough Abbey:
[Leofwine of Deeping and Bole are perhaps Godfrey's two men referred to
above. The land returned to Peterborough ownership shortly thereafter, for
later sources record the establishment of Market Deeping on Peterborough
land here.]
A
Topographical Dictionary of England, Samuel Lewis, 1831:
DEEPING-FEN, an extra-parochial liberty, in the wapentake of ELLOE, parts of
HOLLAND, county of LINCOLN, 6 miles (S.W.) from Spalding, containing 398
inhabitants. This extensive district was enclosed from part of the waste
land formerly belonging to several parishes, and is partly held by
adventurers, for draining, and partly by persons who are free from drainage
expenses by the nature of their tenures; all the land is exempt from the
land tax, and from ecclesiastical and all other assessments.
The district of Deeping Fen includes the villages of Deeping St James,
Deeping St Nicholas, Market Deeping, and West Deeping.
Godfrey
of Cambrai,
In 1086 held 6 manors from the king and was chief tenant in 10 others, all
in Lincolnshire
including:
Helpringham in Kesteven which had been held before the conquest by Bernac
and Bole (along with Obthorpe and Wilsthorpe)
and West Deeping, Deeping and Market Deeping in Kesteven.
‘Two men’ of Godfrey of Cambrai’s held Deeping for Godfrey of Cambrai
Godric held 42 manors before the conquest and was Lord of ½ ploughland in
Drayton (Swineshead did not yet exist), 1 ploughland in Bicker (both in
Kirton) and 5 ploughlands in Allington (in Kesteven).
Bolle-like Place Names in the Domesday Book
Which came first, the place or the surname?
It’s difficult to know whether a name recorded in a medieval
reference as, for example, ‘Thomas Bole of Bole’ was a Thomas who took his
surname from where he lived or whether the place he lived had been named
after his family surname. If
you see a contemporary reference for ‘John Bolle of Swineshead’, for another
example, then this person has clearly taken the Bolle surname but we can’t
tell if he took the name from his father or again from his place of
residence in Swineshead. Then
you find ‘John Carpenter son of John Bolle of Swineshead’ which implies that
John Bolle Jr. had become a carpenter and took that surname.
Later if John Carpenter had a son Thomas then some later reference
for ‘Thomas son of John Carpenter’ could actually be for a direct male line
descendant of John Bolle’s.
Still there are some place names that were in existence long before the custom of adopting a family surname started. Such as:
Bole, Derbyshire
On Derbyshire, page 5
On one Domesday Book site: Town of Bole or Bolun, Nottingham (?) (pre-Norman
name; Bole is a Saxon term for a piece of wood, bolun is the plural); held
by Geoffrey from Roger de Bully.
There may have been a county border change as all the references to
Bolun in the Patent Rolls from the 1200’s have Bolun in Nottingham.
On a different Domesday Book web site it is Bolun, Derbyshire; Lord and
tenant-in-Chief: Henry of Ferrers.
There may actually have been two Saxon settlements called Bole in
that area or it might just be some Norman confusion regarding where the
county line between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire was in those early years
of occupation.
Bolle, Hampshire
