A place in Cheshire 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, Cogshall was held by Payne.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Cogshall in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Payne and Ranulf (of Mainwaring), under Richard of Vernon. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Dedol of Tiverton, Leofnoth of Caldy and Wulfgeat of Madeley.
The settlement was assessed at 1 hide for tax. There was land for 2 ploughs. The recorded population was 1 head of household: 1 smallholder. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included woodland (1 * 0.5 leagues). The manors were valued at 8 shillings in 1086, up from 2 shillings 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 →
Cogshall was one of the settlements recorded in Cheshire in the 1086 survey. Cheshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Cogshall'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 Cogshall.
420 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Cogshall, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Cogshall is Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Triassic).
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.