The Domesday Book - It’s Really About Taxes
Back in the colonial days, surveying was a key part of how the British crown seized and held onto territory in what became the United States. In fact, Thomas Jefferson’s father was a surveyor for the Crown, as were some of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
British land surveying traces its roots back more than a thousand years to a king in desperate need of funds to pay for defending the empire against Viking invasion. In 1086, William the Conqueror commissioned a survey of the entire country to assess the extent of the land and resources in England at the time, so that he could tax them properly. The information collected over a years’ time was recorded by hand in two huge books – the Domesday books.
Great Domesday, volume 2, detail of the inks (catalogue ref. E 31/2/2)
Domesday Data
The Domesday data was not collected through land surveys as we know them today, rather, it was a questionnaire used by Royal commissioners to query representatives of each county (from barons to serfs) throughout the country. The questions included:
Who owned the land and how much was it worth?
How many people lived on the land?
How much woodland was on the land?
How many animals were on the land?
What buildings were on the land?
How much were the land and goods worth in 1066, when William took over?
How much were the land and goods worth in 1086, at the time of the survey?
The result was an extremely detailed record of life in England in medieval times. Although, as king, William owned all the land, he didn’t directly control all of it. The survey found that William controlled 20% of the land, Norman nobility controlled 50% of the land; the Church controlled 25% of the land and English nobility controlled 5% of the land.[1]
Interestingly, today, half of the country is still owned/controlled by a small group. Half of England is owned by 25,000 landowners – less than 1% of its population. The largest portion, 30% is owned by aristocracy and gentry, 18% by corporations, 17% by oligarchs and bankers, 8.5 is publicly owned, 5% is owned by individual home owners, 1.4% is owned by the Crown and royal family, and 0.5% is owned by the Church of England[2].
Map of Scotland showing the Forts at Inverness, Fort Augustus, Fort William and Moidart and on which is pencilled the proposed military roads, also the names and numbers of men that could be raised by the various clans.
Land Surveying in England
Fast-forward another 400 years, and England was in the thick of acquiring and defending its colonial empire. Ironically, one of the most rebellious lands was closest to home – Scotland. After decades of brutal wars aimed at crushing the Scots, the British realized that to rule, they had to thoroughly know the land. In 1731, while the British were building forts, garrisons and roads in the Highlands – the first map of the Highlands was created under the direction of General Wade (a surveyor and engineer). This map-making was part of a strategy to understand the topography to gain military advantage[3].
British Ordnance Survey
Although the campaign to subdue Scotland was ultimately successful, the military leaders were concerned about holding on to it and felt disadvantaged by the lack of accurate maps of the entire country. This was addressed, beginning in 1747, with the Military Survey of Scotland spearheaded by a young surveyor (age 21) named William Roy.
Roy directed surveying parties of eight, relying on simple surveying compasses to measure the angles, and used chains up to 50 feet long to measure distance. Roads, hills, rivers, types of land cover and settlements were hand-sketched on to the map at a scale of 1.75 inches to the mile.[4]
Roy’s first success fueled his vision of a national survey for Britian. In 1784, Roy was commissioned by the Royal Society to geodetically connect the Royal Observatories of Greenwich and Paris to solve a dispute over their relative positions. To do this, he called on Jesse Ramsden, a leading instrument maker to create the Great Theodolite. It measured 36 inches across and it was normally mounted on a stand which placed the sighting telescope between 5 and 6 ft. high. It weighed about 200 pounds and the accessories and cases weighed as much again. It travelled around Britain to locations where it was hauled up mountains, church towers and even scaffolded steeples.[5]
The proposed triangulation mesh of the Anglo-French survey 1784-1790, William Roy 1787.
To begin the London/Paris triangulation, Roy established a baseline on the flattest suitable ground (which now crosses Heathrow airport). Using the Ramsden theodolite and trigonometry, a network of accurately measured triangles was extended to France and then back to a verification baseline in Kent.
The final report of 1790 presents figures for the distance between Paris and Greenwich as well as the precise latitude, longitude and height of the British triangulation stations. Throughout the survey Roy took every opportunity to fix the position of as many landmarks as possible and these formed the basis of the topographic surveys from which new maps could be prepared. Roy died when only three pages of his final report remained to be proofed.
Plan of the environs of Lanark, William Roy, 1726-1790.
Roy’s use of scientific advancements and spherical trigonometry paved the way for modern geodesic surveying. His work was the dividing line between older, approximate mapping and newer, highly accurate maps.
Historians also laud Roy’s attention to including ancient ruins on his maps. As Roy mapped Scotland, he carefully noted and sketched ancient Roman remains that gave an accurate picture of that empire’s presence in Scotland. Today, in many places, these maps are the only record of Roman presence where development obliterated their existence.
Today, British Ordnance Survey traces its existence back to Roy’s work. The Ordnance Survey creates, maintains and distributes detailed location information for all of Great Britian while providing a wealth of historical information about the country. Throughout its history, the Ordnance Survey has aided economic development and plays a key role in national defense – thanks to the ground-breaking work of William Roy.