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Domesday Delving

Domesday Delving

By: Claire Stephen-Walker
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About this listen

 Domesday Delving is a journey back in time to explore the hidden histories of England's towns and villages as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. From the lives of local peasants and the roles of medieval churches to the power struggles between lords, each episode offers an engaging and in-depth look at a different location in medieval England. Whether you have a personal connection to a place or are simply curious about the past, Domesday Delving brings history to life with vivid storytelling and expert insights.

Episodes are uploaded weekly on Tuesdays.Claire Stephen-Walker Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • DD - Episode 54 - Gloucester

    DD - Episode 54 - Gloucester
    Oct 31 2025
    Gloucester: saints, sheriffs, and the bright fort by the Severn. From Roman Colonia Glevum to Æthelflæd’s Mercian power-base and the Norman ledger of Domesday, this episode traces how one city was rebuilt in stone, faith, and finance. We follow Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians, bringing the relics of St Oswald to Gloucester and turning a burh into a pilgrimage centre and royal mausoleum. Then we slip into everyday life: hunting and hawking, impromptu horse races, unruly mob football, tavern dice, and quiet board games in cloisters and inns. Finally, we ask what endures: the difference between walls that protect and walls that command, and the stubborn fact that people persist beneath every new regime. Gloucester’s layers still shine through the centuries, from honey and iron to pounds and pence, from saint’s shrine to sheriff’s tower.

    patreon.com/DomesdayDelving
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    49 mins
  • DD - Episode 53 - Cirencester

    DD - Episode 53 - Cirencester
    Sep 30 2025
    A look at Cirencester's past through the lens of the Domesday Book, along with a brief explanation of work in the middle ages and a look at William FitzOsbern, one of the most powerful men in the Norman regime.
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    25 mins
  • DD - Episode 52 - Special - York

    DD - Episode 52 - Special - York
    Aug 19 2025
    One year of Domesday Delving! To mark the occasion, we’re tackling one of the great titans of the survey: the City of York.

    In 1086 York sprawls across two full pages of Domesday, a record of a city scarred by rebellion, half-emptied by the Harrying of the North, and reshaped by Norman castles. In this special episode, we look at York before the Conquest, dig into Domesday’s tangle of messuages, priests, usurpers and French settlers, and explore what happens when two legal systems — Anglo-Saxon and Norman — collide. Along the way we follow rabbit holes into William’s double-castle strategy, the devastation of the Harrying, and the shifting laws that made whole villages pay for a Norman’s death.
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    45 mins
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