 Owthorpe appears in the 1086 Domesday Book as "Obetorp" in the ancient hundred of Bingham.Its origin may be "Outlying farmstead or hamlet of a man called Úfi or Ufa", i. e. an Old Scandinavian or Old English personal name plus the widespread Danelaw element "thorpe" meaning hamlet.Lord and tenant-in-chief was Geoffrey Alselin.