Forsbrook in Domesday Book

Finding the entry

Start with the Open Domesday entry for Forsbrook in Staffordshire. It places the settlement in Totmonslow, a hundred, or subdivision of the county. Follow the link to the image of Staffordshire folio 2 to see the manuscript page on which Forsbrook appears. The reference Staffordshire 1,60 identifies the entry in the Phillimore edition.

What was recorded in 1086?

The entry names Swein as the holder in 1066. Twenty years later the holding was in King William’s hands. The survey records one ploughland, a measure of how much land a plough team could work. Conditions varied from place to place, so converting it to an exact number of acres would suggest more precision than the record offers.

Open Domesday describes the land as waste in 1086. It flags the wording for its earlier condition as ambiguous. There is no recorded population figure. Turning that blank into a village of exactly zero people would give the wrong impression. William’s surveyors collected information about landholding, resources and value, and left much of everyday life unrecorded.

Following the village beyond Domesday

The district’s historic environment assessment points to ten taxpayers recorded at Forsbrook in 1327. That is a different measure, nearly two and a half centuries later. To trace the settlement itself, turn to maps and the road junctions around Cheadle Road. The history of Forsbrook sets the medieval evidence alongside later streets and farms.