The hamlet is thought to have been relatively undeveloped until prior to the Norman Invasion of 1066; the land sits at the bottom of a hill and is poorly drained, so was not cultivated by the Saxons or Danes: the settlement only began to properly develop under its new French Lord, post-1066. There is thought to have been some local ethnic divide, with Appleby Magna (owned by Burton Abbey and Lady Godiva) inhabited by primarily Anglo-Saxon villagers, and Appleby Parva inhabited by a small group of Normans.