West Barkwith is recorded in Domesday book although mostly in conjunction with East Barkwith and it is not easy to separate the two settlements. There is land in West Barkwith that is sokeland and inland of a manor at Hainton and is in the hands of Roger of Poitou. It is a small holding of 5 bovates and a minimum population of 5 people. However, some of the other holdings listed as Barkwith in Domesday may relate to this area. The holdings are also recorded in the Lindsey Survey of 1115.{1} Earthwork features around the village had been interpreted as a moat and then as old field roads and drainage ditches. These were the remains of medieval settlement seen as earthworks, around the present village of West Barkwith, and mapped from aerial photographs by staff of the National Mapping Programme. The remains have all been ploughed flat and are visible as cropmarks. The remains of tofts and crofts are visible as ditch defined conjoined enclosures ranging in size from 45m by 30m to 120m by 20m. These tofts and crofts form a coherent pattern of medieval settlement to the west, south and east of the Manor House and are centred at TF 1578 8046, TF 1591 8035 and TF 1607 8049. Three blocks of ridge and furrow, related to the medieval settlement, survive as earthworks to the north-east of the present village (see PRN 49314). {2}{3}