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, Wyboston was held by Eudo the steward.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Wyboston in 1086, they recorded 6 manors held by Eudo the steward, 602760, Pirot of Wyboston, St Neot's, abbey of and Judicael (the priest), under Ramsey (St Benedict), abbey of, Hugh of Beauchamp, Nigel of Aubigny, Richard son of (Count) Gilbert and Azelina wife of Ralph Tallboys. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Ramsey (St Benedict), abbey of, thanes, four, Eskil (of Ware), Freemen, twelve, St Neot's, abbey of and Almer, Wulfmer (of Eaton Socon)'s man.
The settlement was assessed at 19.98 hides for tax. There was land for 15.5 ploughs, with 15 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 9 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 40 heads of household: 21 villagers, 16 smallholders and 3 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (2 ploughs) and woodland (100 pigs). The manors were valued at 10.21 pounds in 1086, down from 22.66 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 →
Wyboston 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 Wyboston'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.
118 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Wyboston, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Wyboston is Kellaways Formation And Oxford Clay Formation (Undifferentiated) (Oxfordian).
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.