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, Rochdale was held by Roger of Poitou.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Rochdale in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Roger of Poitou. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Gamal (son of Gruffydd) and thanes, twenty-one.
The settlement was assessed at 79.5 hides for tax. Its recorded resources included woodland (9.5 leagues * 5 leagues and 1 furlong mixed measures).
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 →
Rochdale 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 Rochdale'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 Rochdale.
18 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Rochdale, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Rochdale is Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated) (Westphalian).
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.