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, Shelford was held by Peter of Valognes.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Shelford in 1086, they recorded 6 manors held by Peter of Valognes, Ely (St Etheldreda), abbey of, Hardwin (of Scales), Freemen, seven, Hardwin, of Scales and Hardwin of Scales, under King William and Count Alan (of Brittany). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Earl Harold, Ely (St Etheldreda), abbey of, Freemen, seven, Freemen, six, Alsi, Freemen, five, Freemen, three and Freemen, two.
The settlement was assessed at 24.17 hides for tax. There was land for 23.3 ploughs, with 22 plough teams at work (5 in the lord's demesne and 17 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 71 heads of household: 44 villagers, 20 smallholders and 7 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (4 ploughs) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 29.5 pounds in 1086, up from 24 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 →
Shelford 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 Shelford'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.
670 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Shelford, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Shelford 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.