The purpose was fiscal and administrative.

William wanted to know the full extent of his kingdom and its taxable wealth.

The results give us a detailed snapshot of England in 1086, and for the northern Humber region, that snapshot reveals the lasting damage from the Harrying of the North.

Many Yorkshire entries record “waste,” land that had been productive before 1066 but was no longer so by 1086, a generation later, due to the destruction William had ordered.

Lincolnshire, the county where Barton-upon-Humber is located, shows less widespread devastation but is still marked by the reorganization of landholding from Anglo-Saxon to Norman ownership.