The Domesday Book records three Manors in the parish of Aslockton. To the north (from Mill Lane) to the Scarrington, Thoroton and Orston parish boundaries was the Manor that belonged to the King. Prior to the Conquest (1066) this area was part of King Edward’s estate. This manor probably included the pre-Roman and Roman settlements.
To the south of the parish, around the Abbey Lane, a second manor came under the jurisdiction of the Manor of Whatton.
In the centre, almost certainly the site of the Saxon and Danish settlement sat the manor which William I (the Conqueror) gave to Walter D’Aincourt. The domesday entry for this manor reads as follows:
‘In ASLOCKTON Thori had 1 c. of land taxable. Land for 3 ploughs. Walkelin, Walter’s man, has 2 ploughs and 1 Freeman with 1 b. of this land; 6 villagers and 2 smallholders with 1½ ploughs.
Meadow, 24 acres.
Value before 1066 and now 30s.’
The indications are that the total acreage for the manor was between 500 and 600 acres, with a ‘village population’ in the region of 40 person with a further 18 individuals living outside the settlement.
Walkelin originally held the Manor from Walter D’Aincourt., he or his family held the manor until the reign of Henry II (1154-1189). At some point during that reign the Manor came into the hands of a family that would hold it for 200 years and take their surname from the settlement.
It was probably the De Aslacton family that raised the Motte and Bailey (Cranmer’s Mound). The family did not play a significant role in the affairs of the County except that Simon de Aslacton was the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1260 and part of 1261. A connection with the De Watton family was forged with the marriage of Isabel De Waton to Reginald De Aslacton in the late 13th or early 14th century.
The Manor remained the fee of the de Aslacton family until about 1460 when Isabella De Aslacton (the heir to William de Aslacton) married Edmund Cranmer of Sutterton, Lincolnshire. It was through this marriage that the Manor passed to the Cranmer family. Edmund was the Grandfather of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer who was born in Aslockton in 1489. The Manor passed from Edmund to Thomas (the Archbishop’s father who died in 1501—a memorial to whom is in the Church at Whatton) and from Thomas to his eldest son John. When John died in 1578 the Manor passed to his son Thomas. Thomas’s son died in infancy and the Manor passed to Thomas’s youngest daughter Alice. Thomas was the last ‘resident’ Lord of the Manor.
Alice Cranmer married Sir Thomas Molyneux and on the death of Sir Thomas in 1597 the estate and Manor passed to their son Sir John Molyneux, 1st Baronet of Teversial (Taversall). Sir John sold the Manor in the early 1600s to Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquis of Dorchester. Henry was also the 3rd Earl of Kingston (Upon Hull), the title Marquis of Dorchester died with him, although the title was recreated for his descendant Evelyn Pierrepont, the 5th Earl and 1st Duke of Kingston (1715).
By the time of the enclosure of Aslockton in 1783, the Manor had been largely ‘broken-up’. The Duke of Portland was reported as being the Lord of the Manor with the Duchess of Kingston retaining some holdings in the manor.

Sources:
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Pipe Rolls (11th to 13th Century)
The Doomsday of Inclosures for Nottinghamshire (1517)
Bygone Nottinghamshire (1893)
The Gentleman Magazine Compendium 1731-1868

Gregg Redford 2006