A place in Buckinghamshire 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, Chesham was held by Roger.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Chesham in 1086, they recorded 5 manors held by Roger, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, Hugh of Bolbec, Turstin Mantle and Alsi (of Bromham). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Freeman, one, Brictric of Waddesdon, Freemen, two, Oepi, Brictric's man and Queen Edith.
The settlement was assessed at 15 hides for tax. There was land for 31 ploughs, with 28 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 22 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 59 heads of household: 29 villagers, 16 smallholders and 14 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (3 ploughs), woodland (50 pigs) and 4 mills. The manors were valued at 18.1 pounds in 1086, down from 21.25 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 →
Chesham was one of the settlements recorded in Buckinghamshire in the 1086 survey. Buckinghamshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Chesham'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 Chesham.
555 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Chesham, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Chesham 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.