A place in Cambridgeshire 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, Fulbourn was held by Picot (of Cambridge).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Fulbourn in 1086, they recorded 5 manors held by Picot (of Cambridge), Ely (St Etheldreda), abbey of, Count Alan (of Brittany), William, nephew of Geoffrey de Mandeville and John son of Waleran, under King William and Geoffrey de Mandeville. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward, Ely (St Etheldreda), abbey of, Godwin the noble, Alsi, Leofric, Sigar (the steward) and men, three.
The settlement was assessed at 25 hides for tax. There was land for 35 ploughs, with 20 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 14 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 92 heads of household: 32 villagers, 26 smallholders, 4 cottagers, 26 freemen and 4 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (6 ploughs) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 38.93 pounds in 1086, up from 36.43 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 →
Fulbourn was one of the settlements recorded in Cambridgeshire in the 1086 survey. Cambridgeshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Fulbourn'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.
187 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Fulbourn, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Fulbourn 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.