The town was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Spilesbei". In 1082 it was not much more than a large farmstead and few surrounding crofts under the squireship of the Bishop of Durham. In 1255 a charter was granted to a John de Beke (or John Beck) to hold a weekly market in Spilsby each Monday and a three-day annual fair in July. Four years later, in 1259, the same John de Beke was granted a further charter to hold a three-day Christmas fair from 5–8 December. The next recorded charter to hold a weekly Monday market in the town and an annual fair in July was granted in 1302 to the Lord of the Manor, Norman noble Robert de Willoughby. A copy of this charter is in the parish church. At the east end of the town centre's marketplace stands a medieval buttercross monument. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner suggests that the Spilsby Buttercross dates from as early as the 14th and certainly no later than the 16th century. The stepped bases of these monuments were used by early traders on market day to display their goods, usually milk, cheeses and butter. Standing in the centre of the marketplace is a building originally known as the town hall, later called the Old Town Hall. More recently it has been used as a store and petrol station. In the 18th century the town civic offices, a small courtroom, and the town gaol, were in the upstairs level supported by the arches. The ground level was an open covered space used as the local corn exchange and for stalls by market traders that were protected from the weather. The Manor of Eresby An oft-repeated historical myth is that the Manor of Eresby, including the lands and parish of Spilsby, was awarded to Walter de Beke, sometime after 1083, by William the Conqueror. This myth is one of several generated in the writings of William Dugdale. However, the Domesday Book shows that the manor of Spilsby was held in 1086 by the Bishop of Durham (St Cuthbert's) as both Lord and tenant-in-chief. The only Domesday entry for Walter of Bec is as Lord of Singleborough, under Walter Giffard, the tenant-in-chief. Other sources indicate that another Walter de Bec, who may or may not be related to the aforementioned Walter, married Agnes of Tattershall, daughter of Hugh, son of Pinco FitzEudo.