In 1086 king William I (William the Conqueror) authorised the compilation of the Domseday Book, in order record the land, property, people, livestock and their associated annual income, in his newly won kingdom. In regards to St. Mary-le-Wigford church being possibly referred to, in the Domesday Book, the debate remains, regarding whether or not the neighbouring churches of St. Mary-le-Wigford and St. Peter-at-Gowts were then under the patronage of a wealthy land-owning benefactor called Colswegen (an Anglo-Scandinavian name).
In regards to Colswegen, the Domesday Book says: “outside the city he (Colswegen) has 36 houses and 2 churches to which nothing belongs, which he built on the waste land that the king gave him and that never before was built on”.
This seems to imply that both churches were founded after the Conquest of 1066. The two churches mentioned, cannot therefore be St. Mary-le-Wigford and St. Peter-at-Gowts, as St. Mary-le-Wigford church was (according to its own dedication stone) founded by Eirtig and thus it would already have been existence in 1066, even if it had then come under the patronage of Colswegen.
At St. Mary’s Abbey, York, records show that Picot, the son of Colswegen, gave to St. Mary’s abbey, a church on the east side of Lincoln (in the Butwerk suburb), and they in turn sent clergy to that place until the fifteenth century, when that parish became depopulated, and the church was in turn abandoned. If Picot’s church was founded in the eastern Butwerk suburb of Lincoln, was he thus using land he had inherited from his father? This implication cannot be proven either way, as the Domesday Book does not record their precise location and thus Colswegen’s land, houses and churches could have been on either the east or the south side of the city of Lincoln.
The other explanation; is that the Domesday Book compiler was in error, regarding the foundation date of one of the churches (i.e. St. Mary-le-Wigford). However, how could the book compiler then further claim that the land “never before was built on”, if Romano-British remains (including the re-used stone rubble and the inscribed tombstone in the wall of the church tower) had been possibly discovered, when excavating the church foundations?
At present, the issue remains unresolved but one could argue that the balance of probability is that Eirtig and Colswegen were both wealthy church benefactors within the local 11th century Anglo-Scandinavian Christian community of Lincoln, but patrons for different locations.
