Thame in the Domesday Book

Thame was a substantial Roman settlement, and by 700AD was a possession of the Bishop of Dorchester-on-Thames. By the Norman Conquest in 1066, the diocese of Dorchester stretched from the Thames to the Humber, and the Normans decreed that the bishop should be based in the city of Lincoln. This explains why Thame is recorded as a possession of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Domesday Book in 1086.

The Domesday Book lists Thame (spelt Tame) as worth 30 pounds, with 43 villagers, 47 smallholders, 13 slaves and 54 ploughlands (the amount of land an eight-oxen plough team could plough in a year).