Biography
We tell the astonishing story of how the Domesday work was undertaken, and look at a rival 20th-century project that was nearly lost forever
Domesday book: the Basics
In 1086, a mammoth undertaking was embarked on at the behest of William I. Having secured himself in power following the Norman conquests of 20 years earlier, he wanted to gain a fully detailed picture of the land over which he reigned. The result was the Domesday Book.
Making the Domesday Book
The Domesday Book was created in just a few months, in 1086-7, at the very end of King William's reign. Requiring elaborate planning and detailed organisation, the survey has been described as the first great achievement of Norman rule. Yet it can also be seen, as historian Michael Wood writes, as the "last testimony to the sophistication and efficacy of the late Saxon government".
The 1986 Domesday Project
In 1986, the BBC marked the 900th anniversary of William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book by launching its own computerised survey of the country, undertaken over the previous three years. Schools and local communities around the country were mobilised to help put together a visual and textual overview of how the country looked in the modern era.
