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, Sutton was held by Alwin (the reeve).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Sutton in 1086, they recorded 11 manors held by Alwin (the reeve), Thorkil, Leofgar, King Edward's man, Robert, Sweting of Sutton, Thorbert of Chellington, Godwin and Edric, King Edward's man, under Eudo the steward and Countess Judith. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Freemen, two, Freemen, three, Freemen, six, Leofgar, King Edward's man, Edward, Wulfmer, (King Edward's priest), Edric, King Edward's man and Alwin (the reeve).
The settlement was assessed at 9.61 hides for tax. There was land for 8.8 ploughs, with 4.5 plough teams at work (2.5 in the lord's demesne and 2 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 20 heads of household: 2 villagers and 18 smallholders. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (0.75 ploughs). The manors were valued at 4.65 pounds in 1086, down from 5.75 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 →
Sutton 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 Sutton'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.
686 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Sutton, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Sutton 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.