A place in Berkshire 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, Cholsey was held by Gilbert.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Cholsey in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Gilbert, Hervey (the commissioner), Hugh, Mont-Saint-Michel, abbey of, Richard Poynant, William, King William and priests, two. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by King Edward and free men, ten.
The settlement was assessed at 23 hides for tax. There was land for 27 ploughs, with 27.5 plough teams at work (9 in the lord's demesne and 18.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 137 heads of household: 22 villagers, 100 cottagers and 15 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (136 acres) and 3 mills. The manor was valued at 71.75 pounds in 1086, up from 64 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 →
Cholsey was one of the settlements recorded in Berkshire in the 1086 survey. Berkshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Cholsey'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 Cholsey.
1,321 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Cholsey, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Cholsey is Grey Chalk Subgroup (Cenomanian).
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.