Domesday Book is full of 'fed up' people complaining and took decades longer to complete than previously believed, historian finds

The Domesday Book is full of "fed up" people complaining and took decades longer to complete than previously believed, a historian has found.

The famous record was thought to have been commissioned by William The Conqueror in 1085 to survey every piece of land of the vanquished Anglo Saxon kingdoms.

But Professor Carol Symes said her research shows the study was actually commissioned after the death of William I.  

She believes the answer lies in a small fragment of parchment held at the Benedictine monastery of Saints Mary and Modwena in Burton-on-Trent, Stafford. 

Her investigation also found one of the most famous documents in English history is based on the accounts of Anglo Saxon peasants who saw it as a chance to "air grievances" against their Norman conquerers.  

The narrow document, securely sewn together, functioned as a working draft survey of the abbey's lands undertaken at the behest of Burton's fifth abbot, Nigel, between his arrival in May 1094 and his death on 3 May 1114.

Professor Symes said it was created by an abbot who had access to the 'Domesday' data, making it impossible that the book could have been ordered earlier.

She said: "It plugs a huge hole that we had in our evidence. It suggests the process of creating the thing we call 'Great Domesday' actually took a lot longer than people had thought."