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, Lavendon was held by Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Lavendon in 1086, they recorded 10 manors held by Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances, William, Ansketil, Freemen, three, Humphrey of Wigginton, Ralph (of Lanquetot), Roger (of Olney), Gilbert of Blosseville, Ralph and Ketil, under Count Robert of Mortain, Walter Giffard and Countess Judith. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by man, one, Alli of Lavendon, thanes, seven, Burgred (father of Edwin), Wulfric, Burgred (father of Edwin)'s man, Wulfric, Hunman, Alli's man, Thorbert of Chellington and Ketil.
The settlement was assessed at 19.94 hides for tax. There was land for 22 ploughs, with 14.5 plough teams at work (7 in the lord's demesne and 7.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 66 heads of household: 24 villagers, 34 smallholders and 8 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (1 ploughs), woodland (100 pigs) and 2.5 mills. The manors were valued at 13.1 pounds in 1086, down from 19.5 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 →
Lavendon 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 Lavendon'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 Lavendon.
50 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Lavendon, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Lavendon is Great Oolite Group (Bathonian).
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.