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, Reading was held by King William.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Reading in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by King William, Henry of Ferrers and Battle (St Martin), abbey of. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward, Godric the sheriff, Reinbald son of Bishop Peter and Shaftesbury (St Edward & St Mary), abbey of.
The settlement was assessed at 51.12 hides for tax. There was land for 47 ploughs, with 62 plough teams at work (2 in the lord's demesne and 60 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 102 heads of household: 64 villagers and 38 smallholders. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (150 acres), woodland (100 swine render) and 6 mills. The manors were valued at 63.45 pounds in 1086, up from 49 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 →
Reading 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 Reading'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 Reading.
183 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Reading, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Reading is White Chalk Subgroup (Maastrichtian).
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.