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, Whaddon was held by Hardwin (of Scales).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Whaddon in 1086, they recorded 9 manors held by Hardwin (of Scales), Kolsveinn, Ralph, the priest, men, two, Odo, the chamberlain, Freeman, one, Hardwin, of Scales and Hardwin of Scales, under Ely (St Etheldreda), abbey of, Count Alan (of Brittany) and Richard son of (Count) Gilbert. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Thorbiorn, Freemen, twelve, Kolsveinn, Leofwy, Esger the constable's man, Freeman, one, Edeva (the fair), Saieva, Thorbert the priest and Danemund, Esger the constable's man.
The settlement was assessed at 12.49 hides for tax. There was land for 18 ploughs, with 15.5 plough teams at work (7.5 in the lord's demesne and 8 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 66.5 heads of household: 20.5 villagers, 5 smallholders, 35 cottagers and 6 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (2 ploughs) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 20.900000000000002 pounds in 1086, down from 26 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 →
Whaddon 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 Whaddon'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.
571 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Whaddon, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Whaddon 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.