A place in Cornwall 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, Rinsey was held by Alward of Clyst.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Rinsey in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Alward of Clyst, Alwin, Andrew (of Vitré), Bletcu, Brictric (the Cornishman), Brictsi of Trembraze, Doda of Gurlyn, Godwin, Gruffydd of Roscarnon, Hamelin (of Cornwall), Kenred, Leofnoth of Veryan, Richard (son of Turolf), Count Robert of Mortain, Turstin, the sheriff, King William, Wiuhomarch (the steward) and Wulfward of Rinsey. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Edwy, Earl Harold, thanes, seventeen, thanes, two and Alwin.
The settlement was assessed at 15.06 hides for tax. There was land for 142 ploughs, with 36.6 plough teams at work (9.6 in the lord's demesne and 27 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 138 heads of household: 45 villagers, 50 smallholders and 43 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (7 acres) and woodland (1 * 1 leagues 12 acres mixed measures). The manors were valued at 20.2 pounds in 1086.
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 →
Rinsey was one of the settlements recorded in Cornwall in the 1086 survey. Cornwall in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Rinsey'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.
295 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Rinsey, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Rinsey is Unnamed Igneous Intrusion, Carboniferous To Permian (Permian).
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.