A settlement is first recorded at Donkleywood in the 13th century when it appears in the Iter of Wark. Here it is named as Duncliffe. Although we have a reference to the village's name, there are no records of the people who lived there, either in the form of taxes or other deeds. The present farm has no evidence that there was a medieval settlement here and the earliest building is a 16th or 17th century bastle.