Offton is a village in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England. The name is derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

"Offas farm/settlement", suggesting a potential

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

origin for the settlement, if not earlier.

History

The

Domesday survey Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

records four landholders in the village in 1086, including estates in the possession of

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

and Roger Bigod. Between the four, there were 25 households and three churches recorded, although the number of livestock counted seemngly falls dramatically from 1 cob, 2 cattle, 12 pigs, and 40 sheep in 1066 to nothing in 1086. At some stage in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, Offton castle was constructed within the village. This may have adapted an earlier moated or enclosed site, and by the

Anarchy Anarchy is a form of society without rulers. As a type of stateless society, it is commonly contrasted with states, which are centralized polities that claim a monopoly on violence over a permanent territory. Beyond a lack of government, it can ...

of the twelfth century was in the possession of William de Ambli.

References

External links

Parish Magazine on line
Villages in Suffolk Mid Suffolk District Civil parishes in Suffolk Bosmere and Claydon Hundred {{Suffolk-geo-stub