The Battle of Hastings - (Final) Part Five

(Domesday book)

...Twenty years go by.
States William with a sigh,
"I'm not sure that I am getting all my dues.
Log every field and plot.
Write down clearly who owns what,
For the system's only serving to confuse."

They started in the east,
Counted every plough and beast,
Then someone had the nous to stop and say,
"This is too much information
To obtain from the whole nation.
There surely has to be a simpler way."

So common sense prevails:
Much of England, parts of Wales,
Have visits from a zealousland recorder.
London doesn't feature,
(Nor, now, every living creature),
Nor the shires that lie along the Scottish border.

Several months it took,
To compile one "Domesday book",
From the first ("The Little") and the next ("The Great").
This desription of our land
Is all written in one hand,
And is now a major treasure of the state.

                                                        The End

The Domesday Book

Part of entry for Warwickshire



Areas covered by the Domesday Book