A place in Derbyshire 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, Breaston was held by Herbert of Burrough.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Breaston in 1086, they recorded 4 manors held by Herbert of Burrough, Geoffrey Alselin, Gilbert of Ghent, Mauger of Ilkeston and Fulco of Lisors, under Henry of Ferrers and Roger of Bully. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Leofnoth Sterre, Toki (son of Auti), Ulf Fenman, Leofwin the noble and Ligulf.
The settlement was assessed at 14.24 hides for tax. There was land for 9.9 ploughs, with 18.6 plough teams at work (4 in the lord's demesne and 14.6 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 42 heads of household: 25 villagers, 7 smallholders and 10 freemen. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (3 acres) and woodland (1 league * 3 furlongs mixed measures). The manors were valued at 6.25 pounds in 1086, down from 10.5 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 →
Breaston was one of the settlements recorded in Derbyshire in the 1086 survey. Derbyshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Breaston'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 Breaston.
271 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Breaston, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Breaston 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.