A place in Bedfordshire with a history you can trace through the records: its entry in the 1086 Domesday Book, the archaeological finds and scheduled monuments around it, and the nearest Roman sites and battlefields. Everything below is drawn from the historical record.
In 1086, Gladley was held by Jocelyn the Breton.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Gladley in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Jocelyn the Breton. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Wigot the hunter.
The settlement was assessed at 2.5 hides for tax. There was land for 1 plough, with 0.5 plough teams at work. Its recorded resources included meadow (1 ploughs), woodland (100 pigs) and 1 mill. The manor was valued at 1 pound in 1086, down from 2 pounds in 1066.
The Domesday Book was the great survey of England ordered by William the Conqueror in 1085 and completed in 1086, the oldest surviving public record in the country. How the survey worked →
Gladley was one of the settlements recorded in Bedfordshire in the 1086 survey. Bedfordshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Gladley's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Nationally registered historic battlefields within 25 miles of Gladley.
423 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Gladley, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Gladley is Lower Greensand Group (Albian).
Aubrey's full report for this location includes every Domesday manor, the complete record of medieval lordship, archaeological context, and the story of how this settlement evolved from 1086 to the present day.