dom 1 Domesday (1086) Penkhull and its origins alongside Newcastle under Lyme.

William the Conqueror landed in September 1066 A.D. and won the Battle of Hastings against King Harold at nearby Senlac (later renamed Battle) on the 14^th of October 1066. William the Conqueror was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066, a date that is embedded in the mind of almost every British citizen.

England in 1066 was probably the wealthiest and most well governed kingdom in Western Europe. On inheriting the kingdom, William confiscated most of the land from the Saxon nobility and divided it up between his Norman barons and the church. At Christmas 1085, intent on knowing more about the land he had reigned over for nearly twenty years and stamping his authority over it, William commissioned a survey that became known as the Domesday Book. The survey was much more than a means to satisfy William’s fascination with his new kingdom. It recorded the value of land he held personally and that held by his barons and the church. Where there were disputes over land it helped settle disagreements.  Great introduction to the subject at 7 pp.