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The Lost Village of Manton (Manetuna)
Although named along with Kettlebaston in the Domesday Book, remarkably little information exists about the lost village of Manton (although we do know that it was located just beyond
Hitcham - or at least, that is where it is shown on the Cosford map of 'hundreds and half hundreds'). From current research, it is not even clear when the village fell into disuse, let alone why.
The term lost village / settlement encompasses deserted medieval villages (DMVs), shrunken villages, abandoned villages and other
settlements known to have been lost, depopulated or significantly reduced in size over the centuries. There are estimated to be as many as 3,000 DMVs in England.
The Domesday Book entry for Manton reads as follows:
Place: Manton
Hundred: Cosford
County: Suffolk
Total population: 27.3 households (quite large).
Total tax assessed: 2.9 exemption units; 1 geld units (medium).
Manton appears in 2 entries in Domesday Book
Entry #1
Taxable units: Taxable value 14.5 exemption units. 13.0 villtax. Taxed on 14.26.
Value: Value to lord in 1066 £24. Value to lord in 1086 £33. Value to lord c. 1070 £24.
Households: 23 villagers. 45 smallholders. 17 slaves. 14 free men.
Ploughland: 6 lord's plough teams. 18 men's plough teams.
Other resources: Meadow 50 acres. Woodland 40 pigs. 1 mill. 1 church. 0.25 church lands.
Livestock in 1066: 34 cattle. 200 pigs. 300 sheep. 9 beehives. 8 horses at the hall.
Livestock in 1086: 31 cattle. 160 pigs. 423 sheep. 7 beehives. 11 .
Lords in 1066: Siward (Barn); free men, fourteen.
Overlords in 1066: (Bury) St Edmunds, abbey of; Siward (Barn).
Lord in 1086: Ranulf Peverel.
Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Ranulf Peverel.
Places mentioned in this entry: Acton; [Great and Little] Waldingfield; Honilega; other Waldingfield; Manton.
Phillimore reference: 34,2
Entry #2:
Taxable units: Taxable value 2 geld units. 3.0 villtax.
Value: Value to lord in 1066 £3. Value to lord in 1086 £3. Value to lord c. 1070 £3.
Households: 8 smallholders. 3 slaves. 4 free men.
Ploughland: 2 lord's plough teams. 3 men's plough teams.
Other resources: Meadow 6 acres.
Lord in 1066: free men, four.
Overlord in 1066: (Bury) St Edmunds, abbey of.
Lords in 1086: (Bury) St Edmunds, abbey of; Gamas; Humphrey.
Tenant-in-chief in 1086: (Bury) St Edmunds, abbey of.
Places mentioned in this entry: Kettlebaston; Manton.
Phillimore reference: 14,114
The only other known reference appears in the entry for the Honing family in the "Collectanea topographica et genealogica". The two images from the free-to-view Google Ebook (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nCcAAAAAQAAJ) are shown here:
 
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