THE DOMESDAY SURVEY

Conclusion

Domesday confirms the view of Vale of White Horse we saw in our previous investigation, as an area intensively settled and cultivated. Late Anglo-Saxon charters relating to our study area, record references to open field farming. Domesday gives further illustration of the importance of a mixed farming regime of arable, pasture and meadow within the Wantage area. Furthermore, Domesday also suggests that the region was already known for dairying. Omission in the Survey of entries for Grove Wick and Tulwick (possible specialised dairy farms) does not mean that they did not exist at this time; they may be hidden within entries for manors, the basic unit of land recorded by the Survey.

The sharing of resources amongst communities continues to be important. We saw in our Anglo Saxon Investigation that the need to define a boundary perhaps only becomes critical at the point when there is pressure on limited resources, as suggested by the zig-zag course recorded in charters where the boundary is forced to negotiate existing blocks of fields. The Domesday entries for West Hanney and Charlton also illustrate how a claim to valuable assets manifests in a distinctive boundary pattern, but this time by an individual for personal gain.