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You are in:Learning English >Watch and Listen >Beyond the Postcard > Birmingham audio
Learning English - Beyond the Postcard
 Birminghamaudio

Domesday book
The Domesday book was an ancient record of the whole country. It listed every building, person, farm and animal. The text below is about the book and how it describes what is now Birmingham

The text has words missing. Listen to the text then choose the correct words for each gap from the selections on the right.

 BirminghamDomesday book
 
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Nearly a millennium ago, in 1086, the new Norman rulers of England took on the ...(1)... task of a complete ...(2)... of the country. The purpose of the survey was to make a record of how many people lived in each place, what ...(3)... there were, who owned them and how valuable they were. A lot of people disliked the level of detail of what was recorded, because they realised that the survey would be used as the basis for ...(4).... As one writer at the time put it: "Not one piece of land, not even one ox, nor one cow, nor one pig escaped notice in the survey." So ...(5)... was the survey that the king sent a second set of surveyors to check the results ...(6)... in by the first set.

The record they created has come to be known as the Domesday Book. This has nothing to do with ‘doom’. The Old English word ‘dom’ meant authority or judgement. Domesday pageThis book was meant to be the ultimate authority on the subject of land value and ownership. A ...(7)... entry in the book for a village would say :" 48 villagers with 15 ploughs, 2 mills, 14 acres of meadow and woodland with 100 pigs. Value 16 pounds". Birmingham in 1086 didn’t take much of the surveyors’ time. It was ...(8)... at 1 pound.

Links for more information
The Domesday book online
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