Publications of the Domesday book since 1086
Encyclopedia
The Domesday Book is the record of the great survey of England
completed in 1086, executed for William I of England
. This article is about the various ways the Domesday Book
was published, beginning in the eighteenth century. William the conqueror died before it was completed.
, as a property record of early date that happened to be arranged by county, was a major source for the medieval history of all the counties encompassed by the survey.
The reconstituted Society of Antiquaries of London
, founded in 1717 by Humfrey Wanley
, John Bagford
and John Talman
, made it part of its mission to work towards the publication of a wide variety of ancient records, including Domesday. The Society struggled to achieve its aims, however, being afflicted by its members’ limited resources and sheer lack of enthusiasm.,
Nevertheless, after the purchase of a Royal Charter in 1751, the possibility of publishing Domesday became more realistic. In 1756 Philip Carteret Webb
read a paper to the Society emphasising the great value of Domesday Book, and by implication the urgent need for a published edition: this paper was printed by the printing press of William Bowyer. The following year, in response to Webb’s request, members reported back to the Society regarding existing printed and MS transcripts from the Domesday Book, with the intention of compiling material that might be of assistance in the task of compiling an edition. This effort did not bear fruit.
In 1767, however, for reasons that may be connected to this renewal of interest in the Domesday Book, plans were set in motion for the publication of a complete, scholarly edition of Domesday: this coincided with a programme of publication of other public records, including the Parliament Rolls.
In March 1767 Charles Morton
(1716–1799), a librarian at the British Museum, was put in charge of the scheme; a fact which caused resentment towards him from Abraham Farley
, a deputy chamberlain of the Exchequer who for many years had controlled access to Domesday Book
in its repository at the Chapter House
, Westminster, and furthermore had been involved in the recent Parliament Rolls printing operation. In 1768 Farley complained to the Treasury that he, not Morton, should be in charge of the project, while Morton, for his part, complained that he was being obstructed in his work by the staff at the Chapter House.
The government, meanwhile, had become concerned at the spiralling cost estimates – Morton indicated in 1770 that to continue would cost £4,525 on top of the £2,810 he had already spent. At this point, Farley was remembered, and he became co-editor of the work. Farley and Morton's rivalry precluded an enduring, constructive relationship, and after 1774 Farley was effectively in sole charge.
Farley pursued the task with a single-minded devotion born of long involvement with the public records, and Domesday Book in particular. One of his closest associates during the project was the printer John Nichols
, inheritor of William Bowyer's London
printing press, who in 1773 had developed the typeface that was used in the published edition to represent as closely as possible the script in the Domesday Book itself. Ultimately, Farley's edition of Domesday was completed by 15 March 1783.
Although of a high standard, Farley's work lacked supplementary material and indices. The job was finally completed in 1800, when a Royal Commission
looking into "better Preservation, Arrangement and more convenient Use of the Public Records" ordered the printing of indices to Farley's work, which were compiled and published under the direction of Sir Henry Ellis
by 1816, together with an edition of four "satellite surveys" – the Exon Domesday, the Liber Winton
, the Inquisito Eliensis and the Boldon Book
.
The first complete publication of the Domesday Book was a major step. However, the circulation of Farley's edition was so limited that it could not be truly accounted a work that significantly increased public access to the Domesday Book. That was to take place only in 1861, with the production of the first photo-zincographic facsimile edition of Domesday.
, the Director General at the Ordnance Survey
. The process involved the transferring of a photograph onto zinc or stone, which could then be used directly for printing or, alternatively, onto the waxed surface of a copper plate where the image formed a guide for engraving. It was a system that enabled reproduction en masse and thus, following a meeting with William Ewart Gladstone
in 1859, in which James was allegedly asked by the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer
, whether he "knew of any process by which some of our ancient manuscripts in the Record Office could be copied", James emphasised the superiority of this process over other reproductions, such as lithography
, which used heavy and brittle stone blocks and claimed that the process would be ideal for making cheap facsimile
copies of the Domesday Book
.
In a letter to the assistant Secretary to the Treasury
, George Hamilton in October 1860, James outlined the cost of a complete reproduction of the Domesday Book as an estimated £1575 for 500 copies or, alternatively, £3. 3s. per copy. James further outlined the cost of a single county to demonstrate the affordability of the process, using Cornwall
as an example of one of the shorter entries in the volumes (eleven folio pages) and estimating the cost of 500 copies to be £11. 2s. 4d. On the 14th January 1861, James was granted permission to photo-zincograph the Cornwall fragment of the Domesday Book as a Treasury-funded experiment to determine the success of the process and, consequently, by 1863 the Ordnance Survey had photozincographed the Domesday Book in its entirety, publishing it in thirty two county volumes.
The general public were excited about the invention of photo-zincography. Period newspapers such as the Photographic News reported on the events surrounding the invention and even supplied their readers with an example of a document which had undergone the process.
. However as the nine hundredth anniversary of the creation of Domesday came about interest was revived and major new editions began to emerge particularly the Alecto and Penguin editions. Later as the internet age began Domesday made the transition from paper to the web with commercial and academic projects like ‘Domesday Book Online and the Domesday Explorer’.
List of Domesday editions since 1900
• The Philimore Edition
• The Alecto Editions
• Domesday CD-Rom
• The Penguin Edition
• Domesday Online
. Each county occupies a separate volume. The Latin text, printed on the left-hand pages, is a facsimile of Farley's edition; the translation, on the right-hand pages, was prepared by a team of volunteers, who (to ensure uniformity) worked within standardised guidelines for syntax
, punctuation
and the rendering of proper names and technical terms. Each volume includes notes, tables of tenants' names and place-names, and a map. At the time of writing (July 2011) 29 volumes are still available.
Published between 1985 and 1992 the Alecto Edition is the most complete facsimile
of the Domesday Book
to date. There are three types of Alecto edition, ‘The Penny Edition’, The Millennium Edition and the Domesday Book Studies edition. It has been called an ‘‘indecently exact facsimile’, according to Professor Geoffrey Martin, the then Keeper of Public Records and custodian of the original Domesday’. In order to produce this extremely high quality reproduction the original Domesday Book
was unbound to allow each page to be photographed. The camera used for this process was the same size as a Ford Fiesta
and for security reasons was only operated in a sealed cage.
The Penny Edition was printed on a specialist paper made from cotton from the American Deep South
so that it had the same weight and feel as the parchment of the original, although without the cost this implies. These pages were then bound between sheets of fifteenth century oak set with a silver penny of William I
and another 1986 Elizabeth II penny minted specially for the occasion. Because of the vast expense involved each copy of the Penny Edition cost £5750 and only 250 were produced.
The later Millennium Edition used the same high quality images and paper was bound into two volumes of calf skin in the style of the 12th century binding. This edition was accompanied by a volume of indices, a two volume English translation of the Latin and a box set of Ordnance Survey
Maps with the Domesday sites overlaid on the modern maps. This edition was limited to 450 copies at a cost of £6750 for Greater Domesday and £5750 for Little Domesday.
The Library Version of Domesday once again used the same paper as the Penny and Millennium versions but was bound in a linen cover and boxed to provide durability over many years of use. This edition came with indices, translations and maps.
The Penguin Edition is based on the Alecto Edition and because of this follows the format of the original Domesday Book
. Published in 2002 in hardback then again in 2003 in paperback the Penguin is the first wholly English language edition of Domesday and also the first time Greater and Little Domesday have been bound together. As part of the Penguin Classics range the Domesday Book
joined hundreds of other books viewed as important to critics and public alike. The paperback was originally priced at £25 and keeps in line with Penguin’s principles of being affordable to all.
There are two main suppliers of commercial copies of Domesday, Domesday extracts.co.uk and The National Archives in London. Domesday extracts.co.uk provides six page extracts of the book for any town or village named.http://www.domesdayextracts.co.uk/?de_affsrc=Domesdaybookcouk The National Archives will provide a PDF file of any page of the Domesday Book for a fee.http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/domesday.asp These copies on request have been likened to the previous work done by scribes in legal disputes in the Middle Ages.
The Domesday Explorer
The Domesday Explorer is made up of the entire Domesday Book in database form. It was built by Professor John Palmer and his son Matthew at the University of Hull
using Microsoft Access
as the platform between 1986 and 2008. The project was founded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council
grant of £250 000 and is now available to the public free of charge from the University of Essex
online data store.
The Explorer is a fully searchable data base and also includes stock charts of all the livestock in England in 1086 and statistics reports on each county of the survey. These were produced by Professor Palmer using the work of previous Domesday experts such as Ellis, Maitland and Finn.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
completed in 1086, executed for William I of England
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
. This article is about the various ways the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
was published, beginning in the eighteenth century. William the conqueror died before it was completed.
From antiquarian beginnings
The Domesday Book was an item of great interest to the antiquarian movement of the 18th century. This was the age of the county history, with many accounts of the English shires being published at this time, and Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, as a property record of early date that happened to be arranged by county, was a major source for the medieval history of all the counties encompassed by the survey.
The reconstituted Society of Antiquaries of London
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, founded in 1717 by Humfrey Wanley
Humfrey Wanley
Humfrey Wanley was a librarian, palaeographer and scholar of Old English, employed by manuscript collectors such as Robert and Edward Harley. He was the first keeper of the Harlein Library, now the Harleian Collection.-Life:...
, John Bagford
John Bagford
John Bagford was a British antiquarian, writer, bibliographer, ballad-collector and bookseller.-Life:...
and John Talman
John Talman
John Talman was a British antiquary and art collector. He was the eldest son of William Talman and his wife Hannah. From 1709 to 1717 he toured in Italy, collecting antiquities, becoming friends with the antiquarian pope Clement IX and enjoying the freedom to practice his Catholicism...
, made it part of its mission to work towards the publication of a wide variety of ancient records, including Domesday. The Society struggled to achieve its aims, however, being afflicted by its members’ limited resources and sheer lack of enthusiasm.,
Nevertheless, after the purchase of a Royal Charter in 1751, the possibility of publishing Domesday became more realistic. In 1756 Philip Carteret Webb
Philip Carteret Webb
Philip Carteret Webb was an English barrister, involved with the 18th-century antiquarian movement.He became a member of the London Society of Antiquaries in 1747, and as its lawyer, was responsible for securing the incorporation of the Society in 1751...
read a paper to the Society emphasising the great value of Domesday Book, and by implication the urgent need for a published edition: this paper was printed by the printing press of William Bowyer. The following year, in response to Webb’s request, members reported back to the Society regarding existing printed and MS transcripts from the Domesday Book, with the intention of compiling material that might be of assistance in the task of compiling an edition. This effort did not bear fruit.
In 1767, however, for reasons that may be connected to this renewal of interest in the Domesday Book, plans were set in motion for the publication of a complete, scholarly edition of Domesday: this coincided with a programme of publication of other public records, including the Parliament Rolls.
Abraham Farley’s edition (1783)
Charles Morton (librarian)
Charles Morton MD was an English medical doctor and librarian who became the principal librarian of the British Museum.-Life:Morton first attended Leiden University from September 18, 1736. Some time before 1745, he moved to Kendal, Westmoreland, where he practiced as a physician...
(1716–1799), a librarian at the British Museum, was put in charge of the scheme; a fact which caused resentment towards him from Abraham Farley
Abraham Farley
Abraham Farley was a lifelong civil servant, who was appointed deputy chamberlain of the Exchequer in 1736, and soon became involved with the public records at the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. First amongst these was the Domesday Book, of which Farley became custodian, granting visiting...
, a deputy chamberlain of the Exchequer who for many years had controlled access to Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
in its repository at the Chapter House
Chapter house
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room attached to a cathedral or collegiate church in which meetings are held. They can also be found in medieval monasteries....
, Westminster, and furthermore had been involved in the recent Parliament Rolls printing operation. In 1768 Farley complained to the Treasury that he, not Morton, should be in charge of the project, while Morton, for his part, complained that he was being obstructed in his work by the staff at the Chapter House.
The government, meanwhile, had become concerned at the spiralling cost estimates – Morton indicated in 1770 that to continue would cost £4,525 on top of the £2,810 he had already spent. At this point, Farley was remembered, and he became co-editor of the work. Farley and Morton's rivalry precluded an enduring, constructive relationship, and after 1774 Farley was effectively in sole charge.
Farley pursued the task with a single-minded devotion born of long involvement with the public records, and Domesday Book in particular. One of his closest associates during the project was the printer John Nichols
John Nichols
John Nichols may refer to:* John Nichols , author of The Milagro Beanfield War* John Nichols , British diplomat and Ambassador to Switzerland* John Nichols , English cricketer...
, inheritor of William Bowyer's London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
printing press, who in 1773 had developed the typeface that was used in the published edition to represent as closely as possible the script in the Domesday Book itself. Ultimately, Farley's edition of Domesday was completed by 15 March 1783.
Although of a high standard, Farley's work lacked supplementary material and indices. The job was finally completed in 1800, when a Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
looking into "better Preservation, Arrangement and more convenient Use of the Public Records" ordered the printing of indices to Farley's work, which were compiled and published under the direction of Sir Henry Ellis
Henry Ellis (librarian)
Sir Henry Ellis was an English librarian.He was born in London and educated at the Mercers' School and St John's College, Oxford, where he acted as an assistant at the Bodleian Library...
by 1816, together with an edition of four "satellite surveys" – the Exon Domesday, the Liber Winton
Winton Domesday
The Winton Domesday or Liber Winton is a 12th-century English administrative document which records the landholdings in the city of Winchester together with their tenants and the rents and services due from them. The city was not included in the surveys which produced Domesday Book in 1086. The...
, the Inquisito Eliensis and the Boldon Book
Boldon Book
The Boldon Book contains the results of a survey of the bishopric of Durham that was completed on the orders of Hugh du Puiset, Bishop of Durham, in 1183, designed to assist the administration of the vast diocesan estates...
.
The first complete publication of the Domesday Book was a major step. However, the circulation of Farley's edition was so limited that it could not be truly accounted a work that significantly increased public access to the Domesday Book. That was to take place only in 1861, with the production of the first photo-zincographic facsimile edition of Domesday.
The photozincographic edition
This process, which led to the publication in 1861, was the brainchild of Colonel Henry JamesHenry James (Ordnance Survey)
Major General Sir Henry James FRS MRIA RE was the director-general of the Ordnance Survey, the British Government mapping agency, from 1854 to 1875. Sir Henry was described by the agency itself as "perhaps Ordnance Survey's most eccentric and egotistical Director General"...
, the Director General at the Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
. The process involved the transferring of a photograph onto zinc or stone, which could then be used directly for printing or, alternatively, onto the waxed surface of a copper plate where the image formed a guide for engraving. It was a system that enabled reproduction en masse and thus, following a meeting with William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
in 1859, in which James was allegedly asked by the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
, whether he "knew of any process by which some of our ancient manuscripts in the Record Office could be copied", James emphasised the superiority of this process over other reproductions, such as lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
, which used heavy and brittle stone blocks and claimed that the process would be ideal for making cheap facsimile
Facsimile
A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...
copies of the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
.
In a letter to the assistant Secretary to the Treasury
Secretary to the Treasury
In the United Kingdom, there are several Secretaries to the Treasury, who are junior Treasury ministers nominally acting as secretaries to HM Treasury. The origins of the office are unclear, although it probably originated during Lord Burghley's tenure as Lord Treasurer in the 16th century. The...
, George Hamilton in October 1860, James outlined the cost of a complete reproduction of the Domesday Book as an estimated £1575 for 500 copies or, alternatively, £3. 3s. per copy. James further outlined the cost of a single county to demonstrate the affordability of the process, using Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
as an example of one of the shorter entries in the volumes (eleven folio pages) and estimating the cost of 500 copies to be £11. 2s. 4d. On the 14th January 1861, James was granted permission to photo-zincograph the Cornwall fragment of the Domesday Book as a Treasury-funded experiment to determine the success of the process and, consequently, by 1863 the Ordnance Survey had photozincographed the Domesday Book in its entirety, publishing it in thirty two county volumes.
The general public were excited about the invention of photo-zincography. Period newspapers such as the Photographic News reported on the events surrounding the invention and even supplied their readers with an example of a document which had undergone the process.
Publications of Domesday since 1900
The first two thirds of the 20th century saw little movement in the publications of the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. However as the nine hundredth anniversary of the creation of Domesday came about interest was revived and major new editions began to emerge particularly the Alecto and Penguin editions. Later as the internet age began Domesday made the transition from paper to the web with commercial and academic projects like ‘Domesday Book Online and the Domesday Explorer’.
List of Domesday editions since 1900
• The Philimore Edition
• The Alecto Editions
• Domesday CD-Rom
• The Penguin Edition
• Domesday Online
The Phillimore Edition
The Phillimore Edition is a dual Latin and English text edition of the Greater Domesday Book, published in the 1970s by the local-history specialist publishers Phillimore & Co under the general editorship of John MorrisJohn Morris (historian)
John Robert Morris was an English historian who specialised in the study of the institutions of the Roman Empire and the history of Sub-Roman Britain...
. Each county occupies a separate volume. The Latin text, printed on the left-hand pages, is a facsimile of Farley's edition; the translation, on the right-hand pages, was prepared by a team of volunteers, who (to ensure uniformity) worked within standardised guidelines for syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
, punctuation
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
and the rendering of proper names and technical terms. Each volume includes notes, tables of tenants' names and place-names, and a map. At the time of writing (July 2011) 29 volumes are still available.
The Alecto Editions
Facsimile
A facsimile is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of reproduction by attempting to replicate the source as accurately as possible in terms of scale,...
of the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
to date. There are three types of Alecto edition, ‘The Penny Edition’, The Millennium Edition and the Domesday Book Studies edition. It has been called an ‘‘indecently exact facsimile’, according to Professor Geoffrey Martin, the then Keeper of Public Records and custodian of the original Domesday’. In order to produce this extremely high quality reproduction the original Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
was unbound to allow each page to be photographed. The camera used for this process was the same size as a Ford Fiesta
Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a front wheel drive supermini/subcompact manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company and built in Europe, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, China, India, Thailand and South Africa...
and for security reasons was only operated in a sealed cage.
The Penny Edition was printed on a specialist paper made from cotton from the American Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
so that it had the same weight and feel as the parchment of the original, although without the cost this implies. These pages were then bound between sheets of fifteenth century oak set with a silver penny of William I
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
and another 1986 Elizabeth II penny minted specially for the occasion. Because of the vast expense involved each copy of the Penny Edition cost £5750 and only 250 were produced.
The later Millennium Edition used the same high quality images and paper was bound into two volumes of calf skin in the style of the 12th century binding. This edition was accompanied by a volume of indices, a two volume English translation of the Latin and a box set of Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
Maps with the Domesday sites overlaid on the modern maps. This edition was limited to 450 copies at a cost of £6750 for Greater Domesday and £5750 for Little Domesday.
The Library Version of Domesday once again used the same paper as the Penny and Millennium versions but was bound in a linen cover and boxed to provide durability over many years of use. This edition came with indices, translations and maps.
The Penguin Edition
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
. Published in 2002 in hardback then again in 2003 in paperback the Penguin is the first wholly English language edition of Domesday and also the first time Greater and Little Domesday have been bound together. As part of the Penguin Classics range the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
joined hundreds of other books viewed as important to critics and public alike. The paperback was originally priced at £25 and keeps in line with Penguin’s principles of being affordable to all.
Online editions of Domesday
Commercial copiesThere are two main suppliers of commercial copies of Domesday, Domesday extracts.co.uk and The National Archives in London. Domesday extracts.co.uk provides six page extracts of the book for any town or village named.http://www.domesdayextracts.co.uk/?de_affsrc=Domesdaybookcouk The National Archives will provide a PDF file of any page of the Domesday Book for a fee.http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/domesday.asp These copies on request have been likened to the previous work done by scribes in legal disputes in the Middle Ages.
The Domesday Explorer
University of Hull
The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
using Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of...
as the platform between 1986 and 2008. The project was founded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council
Arts and Humanities Research Council
Established in April 2005 as successor to the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Arts and Humanities Research Council is a British Research Council and non-departmental public body that provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the...
grant of £250 000 and is now available to the public free of charge from the University of Essex
University of Essex
The University of Essex is a British campus university whose original and largest campus is near the town of Colchester, England. Established in 1963 and receiving its Royal Charter in 1965...
online data store.
The Explorer is a fully searchable data base and also includes stock charts of all the livestock in England in 1086 and statistics reports on each county of the survey. These were produced by Professor Palmer using the work of previous Domesday experts such as Ellis, Maitland and Finn.
See also
- Abraham FarleyAbraham FarleyAbraham Farley was a lifelong civil servant, who was appointed deputy chamberlain of the Exchequer in 1736, and soon became involved with the public records at the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. First amongst these was the Domesday Book, of which Farley became custodian, granting visiting...
- Photozincography of the Domesday BookPhotozincography of the Domesday BookIn the 1860s the first facsimile of the Domesday Book was created by the process of photozincography , and was executed under the directorship of Henry James at the Southampton offices of the Ordnance Survey.-Initial stages:...
- Zinco
- John Nichols (printer)John Nichols (printer)John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...
- Domesday BookDomesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
- PublishingPublishingPublishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...