THE DOMESDAY BOOK
In 1085 William the Conqueror ordered that a survey be made of all the lands in his new kingdom. The survey was to record " What, or how much, each man had, who was an occupier of land in England, either in land or in stock, and how much money it were worth ". The returns were collated in 1086 and published in a book which his new subjects referred to as the Domesday Book. Many felt that the method by which it was collected was The Day of Judgement.
The manor of Kingsteignton was recorded as were three farms within the boundaries of the present parish.
KINGSTEIGNTON
photo © Richard Harris
The King has a manor called Teintona which King Edward held on the day on which he was alive and dead and it rendered gold for one hide and one virgate. This can be ploughed by sixteen ploughs. Of it the King has one virgate and one plough in demesne and the villeins hold one hide and twelve ploughs. There the King has fourteen villeins and thirty bordars and three serfs and thirty sheep and fifteen acres of wood and four acres of meadow. This manor renders fourteen pounds by weight and ten shillings by tale, and when Baldwin received it, it rendered fourteen pounds by weight.
The figures suggest perhaps as many as forty families were living on the manor, about 200-250 people.
The villeins were essentially the tenant farmers of the manor but bound to the lord of the manor to provide service on the demesne farm. The bordars had even less freedom than the villeins, whilst the three serfs had the status of slaves.
If we accept the widely held view that a ploughland was an area of some 120 acres and a virgate a quarter of this, it suggests that around 1920 acres had been brought into use and the demesne farm consisted of about 150 acres. The farms of the villeins are not mentioned but the figures suggest between 12 and fourteen farms existed on the manor.
GAPPAH
photo © Richard Harris
Roger holds Gatepade of Radulf. Fives thanes held it in the time of king Edward and it paid geld for three virgates of land. There is land for four ploughs. In demesne are three ploughs and two serfs and ten bordars with one plough. There are six acres of meadow and fourteen acres of wood and four furlongs of pasture. It is worth thirty shillings.
Gappah was held for a Norman , Ralph de Pomeroy, by a certain Roger (most probably another Norman ) having previously been held by five Saxon Thanes. The demesne farm and a smaller farm worked by the labouring bordars.
Today Gappah is a hamlet within Kingsteignton parish and there is still a working farm by that name there.
TWINYEO
photo © Richard Harris
Leofric holds Betunie. He held it in the time of king Edward and it paid geld for one virgate of land. There are two villeins with one bordar having half a plough and there are two acres of meadow. It is worth twenty pence.
Twinyeo was surprisingly still held by an Englishman, but that may have been because it was a relatively small holding of some 60 acres.
The farm no longer exists having been purchased in 1989 by the clay company Watts , Blake, Bearne & Co who were interested in extracting the valuable clay deposits it stood on. All the farm buildings were soon demolished. In later years the ownership transferred to the French owned company Imerys Minerals as part of a land swap with WBB Minerals ( which had by then been acquired by Sibelco).
WHITEWAY
photo © Richard Harris
Ranulf holds of Baldwin Witwei. Osferd held it in the time of king Edward and it paid geld for half a hide. There is land for two ploughs which are there with one serf and one villein and four bordars. A salt work is there paying 12 pence and there is one acre of wood. Formerly it was worth 10 shillings, now it is worth 15 shillings.
Whiteway, like Gappah, had passed into the hands of another Norman . In this case it was Baldwin de Brionne, one of the Conqueror's generals who had been made Sheriff of Devon. A noticeable feature of this manor was its saltworks probably located along the Teign estuary.