William I wants to assess his new territory – how good is the land? What resources can it support? How much tax can he raise? Who lives there? His book will record the worth of farmland, woodland and meadows, it will count the churches, castles, mills and salt-houses. From the dry words springs a picture of everyday rural life.
Working woodlands
Before the Norman Conquest in 1066, large stretches of Bedfordshire were covered in woodland. New settlers made clearings amongst the trees in places like Oakley (oaks), Aspley (aspens), Little Barford (birches) and Willington (willows). The woods were home to wild boars which gave their name to places like Eversholt and Everton – the Saxon word ‘eofor’ means ‘wild boar that lives in the forests’.
At the time of the Domesday Book, approximately 25,000 acres of Bedfordshire was described as woodland. This wouldn’t have been closely planted trees but more open, grassy or marshy areas with some trees and little undergrowth. Droves of pigs were fed on acorns, nuts and snails in these woodlands and the Domesday Book records how many could be supported in each village. At Luton there was enough woodland to support 2,000 pigs but the usual number was around 100.
Pigs were useful animals to have around, they were unfussy in their eating habits, helping to clean yards and streets, and they provided meat, lard and manure. The woodland that supported them also provided firewood and timber for building. As the medieval period wore on, forests were also home to small scale rural industries such as charcoal burning, blacksmithing, lime burning, cartwrights and bird trapping. Few woodland areas would have been free of this kind of activity which would have supplemented the income from agriculture and supplied the local village with goods.
Riches from the river
The River Great Ouse loops through North Bedfordshire, taking 46 miles to cross a width of less than half that. After it leaves Bedfordshire the river flows via Ely, the eel Island or district of the eels’, and on to the Wash at Kings Lynn.
The medieval river was rich in eels and selling and catching them provided a substantial additional income for millers, alongside the primary function of the mill – grinding wheat for flour. Eels were used to pay tax and rent. They were caught using spears, nets and wicker traps, and at the mill dams huge numbers could be caught. It has been estimated that 25-50% fish in medieval rivers were eels. The eels were cured – salted, smoked and dried, so that they could be stored unspoilt until the rent was due. Fish was also an important supplement to the diet at times when meat wasn’t allowed such as in Lent.
The mill in Bromham was worth 225 eels and 20 shillings. The story was repeated along the river: 200 eels at Odell, 200 at Harrold, 260 at Roxton and 80 at Great Barford. There were also mills along the River Ivel, including at Stotfold where the four mills produced a combined rent of 400 eels payable to Hugh de Beauchamp.
Dyed in the wool
The name of the North Bedfordshire village of Odell was first recorded in the Domesday Book and derives from the Anglo-Saxon ‘woad hill’. Woad was an important source of blue dye and also had antiseptic properties. Water was needed for the dyeing process and Odell sits close to the river. It was one of the three staples of medieval dyeing, along with weld (yellow) and madder (red). It was widely used in England and across Europe in the medieval period but as dye traders began to import indigo during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries its use began to decline.
Dyeing was originally done by women, it was a domestic activity, dyeing cloth for the use of the household. By the twelfth century it was developing into a trade and the activity was taken over by men. The snapshot of Odell given in the Domesday book tells us that there were two landowners, Count Eustace of Boulogne and Walter of Flanders. Between them there was woodland for 110 pigs, a mill, land for seven plough teams, 16 villagers, 12 small holders and seven slaves. The story of activities like dyeing is missing from the Domesday Book and has to be read between the lines, through information like place names. From this we can take a reasoned imaginative leap into the lives of women in Bedfordshire in this period and see them with harvesting the leaves, steeping them in water, cooling and straining the dye – their hands stained blue.
Read the introduction to this series here:
I found this an engaging, well-written and thought-provoking read. It's good to be reminded that beneath the present 'everyday' that we take for granted lies all the history of the everydays of past times. I found it interesting to think of medieval people dying clothing and fishing for eels and generally having livelihoods which obviously depended heavily on the natural resources around them - in contrast to the way in which in modern life, places and their resources, such as woodlands and rivers - are now more the stuff of the average person's leisure time than their means of survival. Thanks for this lovely piece.