Norman

When William's army marched through Surrey to cross the Thames at Wallingford on his way to London it is widely reported that he laid many lands waste and gave possession of lands and positions to his followers. However, there is no evidence for this locally. Abbot Wulfwold, a Saxon, seems to have promptly paid homage to William and thus retained his position. The Domesday survey, 20 years after the conquest shows no collapse in the local economy and that in Chobham a Saxon remained the major landowner.

Therefore we can assume that the immediate impact of the conquest on Abbey-held lands such as Chobham was minimal and changes slow.

However, in 1092 William Rufus appointed his Chancellor, Ranulf Flambard, as the new abbot. Flambard promptly appropriated the profits of the Chertsey possessions. He was so hated that when Henry I came to the throne he imprisoned Flambard for his crimes. In 1107 Abbot Hugh found the abbey to be in a ruinous condition ^{5 p62-64}. It seems likely that the abbey lands and tenants suffered similarly.

The Domesday Survey

In 1086 a national taxation survey known as the Domesday Book was made at the order of William the Conqueror. It was never intended as a census; its purpose was to record the worth of each landholder and thus what tax could be raised. In the case of Chobham it even recorded assets from which the Abbot received no income, such as shared woodland; but still worth recording because William could tax the Abbot for that asset.

The Abbey holds CEBEHAM. Before 1066 and now, it is assessed for 10 hides. There is land for 12 ploughs. In lordship there is 1.

29 villagers and 6 smallholders with 11 ploughs. 3 slaves.

Meadow 10 acres, woodland at 130 pigs.

Odin holds 4 hides of this land from the Abbot, and Corbelin two hides of the villagers' land. In lordship there is one plough; seven villagers and four smallholders with three ploughs.*

There is a church, and another chapel.

Value of the whole manor before 1066 £16; now, the monk's part £12 10s; but the men's 60s.⁽¹⁾

^{* Manning and Bray
add the note here 'the latter entries must surely refer to the land of
Odin and Corbelin'.}

This seemingly rambling entry is actually very structured. It follows a set formula.

Domesday starts by giving us the history and a summary of the tax that can be collected. It tells us that before the Norman Conquest and at the time of the survey, Chobham was assessed for ten hides [a hide being a unit of taxation, nominally the amount of land needed to support one family, or about 100 acres depending upon the productivity of the soil] and there was cultivated land of 12 ploughs ⁴.

Domesday then tells us how the land was divided up. It states that of the 12 ploughs-worth of land, the Abbot farms one ploughs-worth of land and the 29 tenant landholders and 6 landless cottagers the other 11. There are 3 slaves who have no land rights and so cannot be taxed. So we know there were 38 heads of households; perhaps about 150-200 people?

It then gives details of the taxation of the shared land. Firstly 10 acres of meadow; if the taxation was in line with the normal tithe then that would represent 10% of a total of 100 acres of meadow.

The woodland is taxed at 130 pigs. Depending upon location, pigs were taxed at rates varying from 1 in 3 to 1 in 10. '130' may be a rounded down taxation of 1 in 3 of oak woodland sufficient for 400 pigs.

The major land owners are Odin and Corbelin who between them own 60% of the value of the land. The Norse name 'Odin' was often the written form of the Germanic name 'Woden'. Hence, despite the bulk transfer of land from the Saxons to Norman lords immediately after the Conquest, it appears that a Saxon landholder was allowed to retain a major landholding. Conversely, 'Corbelin' is an old French surname and also the name of a town in the centre of France (not in Normandy) - very curious.

Odin (and Corbelin?) retained one ploughs-worth of land for his own use (probably worked by his four landless cottagers) and let three ploughs-worth of land to his seven villagers.

The numbers of churches, chapels, fishponds and mills are then listed. Since Chobham did not warrant a vicar until much later is has been suggested that the chapel mentioned was St. Lawrence's in Chobham. Bisley has been suggested as the 'church', but its chapel did not become a church until 1283/4 ⁽²⁾. The 'church' may have been the private manorial church of Odin who held a sub-manor. We don't know where the church would be since we don't know where Odin had his land; it could have been anywhere in the Manor of Chobham - see below. His manor may have been the similarly-sounding Manor of Aden which appears later in the records.

Finally a tax value is calculated: The Abbey holds £12 10s of land; Odin and Corbelin together £3. It assesses the total tax as being 10 shillings less than before the Conquest: King William was hoping to increase the tax raised!

Since no other 'Surrey Heath' villages are mentioned in Domesday it is assumed that the manor of Chobham includes all the land and villages in the central and western half of the Abbey's lands - the Godley Hundred. This would include all of present day Surrey Heath, but perhaps or perhaps not at that time:

If we plot the location of medieval houses and manors in the area we find that nearly all lie within a mile of the centre of Chobham. To the north lay the vast barrenness of the heath; to the west beyond West End lay the bogs below Chobham Ridges. Thus when Domesday refers to 'Chobham' it really does essentially refer to just the cultivated land along the Bournes within a one-mile radius of Chobham. Chobham probably served as Chertsey Abbey's western administrative centre.

Feudal Land Tenure

The King owns all the land in the Kingdom. No-one else is allowed to own land but many lease it for a fixed period. Barons lease land directly from the King and provide military assets to him. In turn, Barons lease their lands to Knights in exchange for direct military service which is offered to the King. Since Chobham's lands were owned by the Abbey there were no Barons, but some Knights are mentioned.

Villanes were holders of land by an ill-defined tenure. After the Conquest their condition altered and they were burdened with service due to their lord and and from their name we get the terms village and villager. They probably would not have aspired to own estates or fields; merely strips in the open fields.

One of the services they been required to perform would have been to work on the Abbey's land in Chobham.

Bordars held a bord or cottage with a small parcel of land on condition of performing certain service to the Lord.

Serfs were on the lowest rung of the social ladder and were at the arbitrary disposal of the Lord, except that their lives and limbs were under protection of the law.

4. A 'plough' is said to be a unit of taxation; nominally the land to occupy an eight-oxen plough-team; probably about 120 acres. But might it also relate to land subject to the greater tithe (anything produced of the plough - field crops such as wheat, barley, rye and oats)?

2. Chertsey Abbey: An Existence of the Past. Lucy Wheeler. Pub: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. 1905

The Conquest

The Domesday Survey

Feudal Land Tenure