Cravenshire

The extent of the medieval district of Craven, in the north of England is a matter of debate. The name Craven is either pre-Celtic Britain, Britonnic or Romano-British in origin. However, its usage continued following the ascendancy of the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans – as was demonstrated by its many appearances in the Domesday Book of 1086. Places described as being ''In Craven'' in the Domesday Book fell later within the modern county of North Yorkshire, as well as neighbouring areas of West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. Usage of Craven in the Domesday Book is, therefore, circumstantial evidence of an extinct, British or Anglo-Saxon kingdom or subnational entity (such as a shire or earldom).

The modern local government district of Craven – a much smaller area entirely within North Yorkshire – was defined in 1974.

Background

Although historic Craven extended a little further southeast in Yorkshire, as it still does with the Church of England's Deanery of South Craven, the northwestern boundary is the one much disputed. Before the Norman Conquest the North of England from coast to coast was administered from York and named The Kingdom of York. By 1086 the Normans had designated only one county in the North of England and that was Yorkshire. One may assume thereby that the Norman Yorkshire of 1086 was much the same as the Kingdom of York of 1065; and the Domesday Book supports this.

The creation of Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmorland took place after 1086: Cumberland may have been shired in 1092, there was a sheriff of Westmorland by 1129, and a sheriff of Lancashire by 1164.

It has also been proposed that the first Yorkshire was smaller, much as it was up till 1974, and that Amounderness, Cartmel, Furness, Kendale, Copeland and Lonsdale were attached to it in the Domesday Book, merely for administrative convenience.

Craven in the Domesday Book

The Domesday Book (1086) was essentially an economic census of England, completed during the reign of William the Conqueror, to find out how much each landholder had in arable land and what that land was worth in terms of the taxes they used to pay under Edward the Confessor.

The areas of ploughland were counted in carucates: the land a farmer could manage throughout the year with a team of eight oxen. That area varied with the local soil but on average it was 120 acres, (50 hectares). Some carucates are designated ''Waste'', many of these were devastated and depopulated by the Norman army during the Harrying of the North 1069–70, ca.17 years prior to this survey.

The Land of the King in Craven, Domesday Book folio 301v

Mostly in Airedale but also in Lonsdale for that was then considered part of Yorkshire.

LOCATION

Cononley

Bradleys Both

Farnhill

Kildwick

Eastburn

Utley

Keighley

Wilsden

NewsholmeNewsholme near Oakworth has a unique church that forms part of a farmhouse
Retrieved November 2010

Laycock

Sutton-in-Craven

Melling-with-Wrayton, Hornby-with-Farleton, Wennington

Thornton in Lonsdale, Burrow-with-Burrow

CARUCATES

2

7

2

2 plus 1 church

2 ½

1

6

3

1

2

2

10 ½

6

PREVIOUS OWNER

Thorkil

Arnkeld, Thorkil, Gamel

Gamel

Arnkeld

Gamel Bern

Vilts

Ulfkeld, Thole, Ravensvartr

Gamel Bern

Vilts

Ravensvartr

Ravenkeld

Ulf and Orm

Orm

CURRENT

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

King William

The Land of The Clamores of Yorkshire in Craven, Domesday Book folio 380

These lands centred on Bolton Abbey were soon after this date transferred to Robert de Romille. And since the Saxon manse at Bolton Abbey was beyond repair Romille built a castle elsewhere: Skipton Castle.Whitaker, Thomas Dunham (2012) 805 The History and Antiquities of the Deanery of Craven in the County of York (new ed.). London: British Library. pp. 8. .

LOCATION

Bolton Abbey was the caput