Waldringfield is mentioned in the 10C in the 0955 Will of Bishop Theodred. In the early 11C there is also a Possible gift of land between 1035 and 1044 when the East Anglian lady Leofgifu gave Godric her reeve the land at Waldringfield, Suffolk, which she had previously loaned to him. However, this may be a confusion with Waldingfield (no R). There are also Follow up references to Cwengifu and Wingfield to be researched.
These do not really tell us much but the Domesday Book gives us significant information about the village in the 11C. It records who owned what, both before and after the Norman Conquest in 1066. Our part of England was, fortunately, covered in the Little Domesday Book which provides the greatest detail. Everything was owned by the King with a hierarchy of ownership and fealty descending to the lowest in society. Some of those who owned land held it in several places so, to get a better picture, it is useful to look at what the main landholders owned in other areas.
We find that our village was described in two parts as Waldringfield and Lesser Waldringfield. These were owned, pre Conquest by, presumably King Edward and Wulfric the Abbot of Bury . The land was held by three people who, presumably, had a more local prescence than the owners.
“In Lesser Waldringfield 1 sokeman of Eadric [held] 22 acres of land, 1 bordar and 1 plough, worth 2s.” – we don’thave his name but he also held land in Kesgrave and Rushmere.
“In Lesser Waldringfield, Cwengifu held TRE under St [Edmund] 1 ½ carucates of land. Now 8 Bordars. Then as now in Demesne 2 ploughs and belonging to the men 1 plough. 2 acres of meadow. I horse and 10 pigs and 100 sheep. Then as now worth 20s. It is 3 furlongs long and 6 broad. 5d in geld. “ – She also held land in Newboune and Hapsley. We are not certain where Hapsley was but think it near Newbourne. Note – in the index Lesser Waldringfield is also referred to as “ Minima Waldringafelda”
“In Waldringfield Beorhtmaer, a Free man, held TRE: a carucate of land as a manor and 1 bordar. Then 2 ploughs, now 1: mill. Then 1 horse. Then 100 sheep, now 27. Then it was worth 20s. now 10s. It is 6 furlongs long and 3 broad. In Geld 5s. In the same place 5 free man commended half to Beorhtmaer and half to his mother with 40 acres and 1 plough worth 4s.” – Beorhtmaer also had 16 free men in Newbourne, 5 in Hapsley, 10 in Preston/Martlesham. For comparison – [Preston] (nearby in Martlesham) has 10 free men & 9 Bordars. Newbourne – 16 free men and 14 Bordars worth 20s.
There is an analysis in The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England website which broadly agrees but mentions both Wulfric and Baldwin as Abbot. See note here.
The total of five ploughs would equate roughly to five Carucates which is about 700 acres so it roughly fits the current area although it seems unlikely that so much of the area was cultivated especially with 100 sheep to graze.
If we analyse the figures we find the total “value” was 44 shillings with Eadric’s anonymous Sokeman being apportioned only 2 shillings of that figure. So, it seems then that Beorhtmaer was the major land holder after his mother Cwengifu (alternative Quengeuua) with Eadric’s sokeman having a minority stake in the area. Beorhtmaer had larger land holdings nearby so may not have lived in Waldringfield, the majority of the men under him were in Newbourne and [Preston]. His mother Cwengifu had other holdings apart from Lesser Waldringfield so again may not have lived here.
There is mention of a Mill in Waldringfield. At this time it would have been a Water Mill driven either by the tide or by a stream. We can’t be sure but can speculate that the most suitable location would be somewhere between the current Church and where the current reservoir (built in the 1960s) is located. This would make Waldringfield the Southern part of the settlement and Lesser Waldringfield the Northern part.
The Domesday books gives figures both before (T.R.E) the Conquest and about twenty years later in 1086 (T.R.W). It shows that Cwengifu retained her property but there is no mention of Beorhtmaer and Waldringfield had halved in value. After the Conquest the Abbot of Bury also retained his holding with the remainder being owned by the, presumably Norman, land holders Robert Malet, under Roger Bigod and Ranulf, Brother of Ilger.
The Domesday Book does not mention Churches so we don’t know if there was one here. There were 640 settlements in Suffolk of which 178 had mills and 345 had churches so it could be that if the village was important enough to have a Mill it might also have a Church but perhaps settlements had Mills because they were on the water. {(Domesday Geography of East Anglia H.C.Darby)}. The Churches at Martlesham and Newbourne are both believed to date to the 11C or before but All Saints at Waldringfield is supposed to be Early English, probably 13C-14C {A Check-list of the Sacred buildings of Suffolk – Claude Morley}. We can conclude that the village is unlikely to have had a Church until the 13C.
Coppinger s Manors claims that Rivershall Manor was the estate of Brihtmar but it is not clear how he reaches this conclusion as Rivershall is not mentioned until nearly three centuries after his time.
Adding up the number of people gives a total of seventeen between Waldringfield (6) and Lesser Waldringfield (11) but as only heads of households were recorded we have to estimate a total. An estimated average size of household of three or four would give a population of perhaps 18 for Waldringfield and 30 for Less Waldringfield so about 50 for the two settlements combined living in perhaps a dozen buildings.. All the Freemen lived in Waldringfield and all the Bordars in Lesser Waldringfield so maybe Waldringfield was the up market end? (Open Domesday says only 12 people). Without the major land holders living here the village may not have been of much importance and nearby but disappeared Preston could well have been larger.
There was a Water Mill but not a Church. There were 200 sheep which fits with what we know of later land use. There were 10 pigs plus, from the number of ploughs around 30 Oxen. It seems that Cwengifu continued to hold land post Conquest but not her son Beorhtmaer and the village appears to be less prosperous twenty years after the conquest.
We should also consider that Before the sea walls the geography of the village would have been quite different to today.
Terms used in the Domesday book are confusing so here are some explanations:
- Carucate – this was the area that could be cultivated by one plough (with its eight Oxen) in a year and a day. It equates, roughly to 120 acres.
- Demesne – Land in “lordship” whose produce is devoted to the Lord rather than his tenants.
- Acre – 4,047 square metres but more sensibly there are 640 acres to the square mile. An acre can also be defined as one furlong by one chain (a cricket pitch). The current Parish encloses about 960 acres.
- Furlong – a measure of length equal to and eigth of a mile or ten chains. That’s 201 metres in metric which is also very close to one tenth of a Nautical mile or one cable.
- Plough – self explanatory but a plough infers that there were eight Oxen to draw it and they will need 24 acres of meadow to graze.
- Geld – The English land tax assessed on the HIDE (yet another term but we’ll stop there).
- MILL – (L Molendium) driven by water. The Windmill does not appear in England for at least a century after Domesday Book.
- TRE – Tempore Regis Edwardi – indicates the position in the time of King Edward, i.e. before the conquest in 1066.
- T.R.W – in the time of William
- Commended – put into the hands of – a form of Vassalage.
- Freeman– in Eastern England a non noble land owner, usually COMMENDED to a LORD.
- Sokeman– a free man (though often only a peasant) owing service, including suit
of COURT, to the lord of a SOKE. - Villan or Villein – a feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or manor to whom he paid dues and services in return for land.
- Bordar – a cottager (Cottar). a peasant of lower economic status than a Villan.
Our landholders also held land at Debenham
