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, Harston was held by Picot, of Cambridge.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Harston in 1086, they recorded 4 manors held by Picot, of Cambridge, Odo, the chamberlain, Ranulf and Picot of Cambridge, under Ely (St Etheldreda), abbey of, Count Alan (of Brittany) and Robert Gernon. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Fridebert of Ockendon, Freemen, four, priest, one, Freeman, one, Ordgar and Freemen, six.
The settlement was assessed at 11.62 hides for tax. There was land for 11.8 ploughs, with 6 plough teams at work (2 in the lord's demesne and 4 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 29 heads of household: 7 villagers, 6 smallholders and 16 cottagers. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (1 ploughs) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 12 pounds in 1086, down from 13 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 →
Harston 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 Harston'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.
914 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Harston, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Harston 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.