diff --git a/datasette/app.py b/datasette/app.py
index e07cb2ef..ce4e2e95 100644
--- a/datasette/app.py
+++ b/datasette/app.py
@@ -384,6 +384,7 @@ class DatabaseView(BaseView):
             return await self.custom_sql(request, name, hash, sql)
         info = self.ds.inspect()[name]
         metadata = self.ds.metadata.get('databases', {}).get(name, {})
+        self.ds.update_with_inherited_metadata(metadata)
         tables = list(info['tables'].values())
         tables.sort(key=lambda t: (t['hidden'], t['name']))
         return {
@@ -399,9 +400,7 @@ class DatabaseView(BaseView):
             'database_hash': hash,
             'show_hidden': request.args.get('_show_hidden'),
             'editable': True,
-            'metadata': self.ds.metadata.get(
-                'databases', {}
-            ).get(name, {}),
+            'metadata': metadata,
         }, ('database-{}.html'.format(to_css_class(name)), 'database.html')
 
 
@@ -691,6 +690,10 @@ class TableView(RowTableShared):
             display_columns, display_rows = await self.display_columns_and_rows(
                 name, table, description, rows, link_column=not is_view, expand_foreign_keys=True
             )
+            metadata = self.ds.metadata.get(
+                'databases', {}
+            ).get(name, {}).get('tables', {}).get(table, {})
+            self.ds.update_with_inherited_metadata(metadata)
             return {
                 'database_hash': hash,
                 'human_filter_description': human_description,
@@ -706,9 +709,7 @@ class TableView(RowTableShared):
                     '_rows_and_columns-table-{}-{}.html'.format(to_css_class(name), to_css_class(table)),
                     '_rows_and_columns.html',
                 ],
-                'metadata': self.ds.metadata.get(
-                    'databases', {}
-                ).get(name, {}).get('tables', {}).get(table, {}),
+                'metadata': metadata,
             }
 
         return {
@@ -892,6 +893,15 @@ class Datasette:
     def extra_js_urls(self):
         return self.asset_urls('extra_js_urls')
 
+    def update_with_inherited_metadata(self, metadata):
+        # Fills in source/license with defaults, if available
+        metadata.update({
+            'source': metadata.get('source') or self.metadata.get('source'),
+            'source_url': metadata.get('source_url') or self.metadata.get('source_url'),
+            'license': metadata.get('license') or self.metadata.get('license'),
+            'license_url': metadata.get('license_url') or self.metadata.get('license_url'),
+        })
+
     def prepare_connection(self, conn):
         conn.row_factory = sqlite3.Row
         conn.text_factory = lambda x: str(x, 'utf-8', 'replace')
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 68cc11b0..7f2b9269 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Contents
    :maxdepth: 2
 
    getting_started
+   json_api
    sql_queries
    metadata
    custom_templates
diff --git a/tests/fixtures.py b/tests/fixtures.py
index 92c38482..d5a53d8f 100644
--- a/tests/fixtures.py
+++ b/tests/fixtures.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ def app_client():
             page_size=50,
             max_returned_rows=100,
             sql_time_limit_ms=20,
+            metadata=METADATA,
         )
         ds.sqlite_functions.append(
             ('sleep', 1, lambda n: time.sleep(float(n))),
@@ -23,6 +24,27 @@ def app_client():
         yield ds.app().test_client
 
 
+METADATA = {
+    'title': 'Datasette Title',
+    'description': 'Datasette Description',
+    'license': 'License',
+    'license_url': 'http://www.example.com/license',
+    'source': 'Source',
+    'source_url': 'http://www.example.com/source',
+    'databases': {
+        'test_tables': {
+            'description': 'Test tables description',
+            'tables': {
+                'simple_primary_key': {
+                    'description_html': 'Simple <em>primary</em> key',
+                    'title': 'This <em>HTML</em> is escaped',
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+
 TABLES = '''
 CREATE TABLE simple_primary_key (
   pk varchar(30) primary key,
diff --git a/tests/test_html.py b/tests/test_html.py
index 50d26703..c93fdcdc 100644
--- a/tests/test_html.py
+++ b/tests/test_html.py
@@ -280,3 +280,58 @@ def test_view_html(app_client):
         ]
     ]
     assert expected == [[str(td) for td in tr.select('td')] for tr in table.select('tbody tr')]
+
+
+def test_index_metadata(app_client):
+    response = app_client.get('/', gather_request=False)
+    soup = Soup(response.body, 'html.parser')
+    assert 'Datasette Title' == soup.find('h1').text
+    assert 'Datasette Description' == inner_html(
+        soup.find('div', {'class': 'metadata-description'})
+    )
+    assert_footer_links(soup)
+
+
+def test_database_metadata(app_client):
+    response = app_client.get('/test_tables', gather_request=False)
+    soup = Soup(response.body, 'html.parser')
+    # Page title should be the default
+    assert 'test_tables' == soup.find('h1').text
+    # Description should be custom
+    assert 'Test tables description' == inner_html(
+        soup.find('div', {'class': 'metadata-description'})
+    )
+    # The source/license should be inherited
+    assert_footer_links(soup)
+
+
+def test_table_metadata(app_client):
+    response = app_client.get('/test_tables/simple_primary_key', gather_request=False)
+    soup = Soup(response.body, 'html.parser')
+    # Page title should be custom and should be HTML escaped
+    assert 'This &lt;em&gt;HTML&lt;/em&gt; is escaped' == inner_html(soup.find('h1'))
+    # Description should be custom and NOT escaped (we used description_html)
+    assert 'Simple <em>primary</em> key' == inner_html(soup.find(
+        'div', {'class': 'metadata-description'})
+    )
+    # The source/license should be inherited
+    assert_footer_links(soup)
+
+
+def assert_footer_links(soup):
+    footer_links = soup.find('div', {'class': 'ft'}).findAll('a')
+    assert 3 == len(footer_links)
+    datasette_link, license_link, source_link = footer_links
+    assert 'Datasette' == datasette_link.text.strip()
+    assert 'Source' == source_link.text.strip()
+    assert 'License' == license_link.text.strip()
+    assert 'https://github.com/simonw/datasette' == datasette_link['href']
+    assert 'http://www.example.com/source' == source_link['href']
+    assert 'http://www.example.com/license' == license_link['href']
+
+
+def inner_html(soup):
+    html = str(soup)
+    # This includes the parent tag - so remove that
+    inner_html = html.split('>', 1)[1].rsplit('<', 1)[0]
+    return inner_html.strip()