At the time of the Domesday survey in 1086, Roger de Montgomery, the first Earl of Shrewsbury, was tenant-in-chief of Wrockwardine. He presided over an extensive manor, which included seven and a half outlying holdings (known as ‘berewicks’ the old English word for corn farm) including: Admaston, Allscott, Burcot, Charlton, Cluddley, Nash (a former medieval township that has now completely disappeared) and Orleton.
Domesday was essentially a record of the land and its assets that enabled the Crown to measure the extent to which it could raise taxes throughout England and parts of Wales. Wrockwardine contained five hides (an area of tax assessment containing approximately 240 acres), while four ploughs were recorded on the demesne (the area where the produce belonged to the Lord himself). The land was worked by thirteen Villeins (villagers who were technically the lord’s property) and four Bordars (smallholders who enjoyed a higher social status) and, between them, they were responsible for a further twelve ploughs. Eight Neatherds (ploughmen) were also recorded in the survey of the Manor and each plough would typically have been pulled by up to eight oxen.
The Church at Wrockwardine was probably founded in Saxon times and was given to Shrewsbury Abbey (St Peter’s) as a gift by Earl Roger. The Domesday survey records a Priest living in the Manor and it is highly probable that this was Odelerius of Orleans, who was Rector of Wrockwardine Church from 1066 until around 1095, when he left to live as a Monk at Shrewsbury. He had initially accompanied Earl Roger to England after the Conquest but is probably better known as the father of the historian Oderic Vitalis.