I can see why

Woody · I can see why

William the Conqueror's Domesday Book, which was commissioned in 1085, can now be explored on the internet.

The "nation's finest treasure" - which is stored at The National Archives in Kew, west London - has been seen by less than 1 per cent of the population, research has shown. (Picture: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday)

Anyone with access to the internet can now explore the detailed land and wealth survey, which was put together by William the Conqueror to help him work out how much tax to charge his subjects.

Visitors to the Domesday website will be able to search place names and see the index entry made for each village, town or city for free.

Downloading a copy of the original page will cost £3.50.

According to the National Archives, the book was voted the "nation's finest treasure" last year.

But research commissioned to celebrate the online launch showed nearly 2 per cent think the Domesday Book is a novel by Dan Brown, and 13 per cent believe it is a chapter in the Bible.

Although 41 per cent were able to name William the I as the person who commissioned the document, one respondent thought it was Tony Blair.

Adrian Ailes, a Domesday expert at the National Archives, called the online edition "a fantastic achievement".

He continued: "It is important that people of all ages should be able to read and use this national treasure."

Work to put the document on the web first started in 1985, when snapshots of some of the pages were taken.

The iconic document is actually comprised of two volumes, the Great Domesday and the Little Domesday.

Although most people will now see it in pixel form, the original was written on 900 sheepskins by scribes using goose-feather quills.

The Domesday Book can be found at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday

At £3.50 per page i can see why its called the Domesday book.