 Great Eccleston was listed in the "Domesday Book" of 1086 as "Eglestun".In various 13th-century documents it was recorded as "Ecclisto", "Ecleston" and "Great Eccleston".In 1066 when the Normans conquered England, the township of Great Eccleston—then part of the ancient hundred of Amounderness—was in the possession of Tostig Godwinson, the brother of King Harold II.