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, Derby was held by King William.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Derby in 1086, they recorded 10 manors held by King William, Burton (St Mary & St Modwen), abbey of, Geoffrey Alselin, Ralph son of Hubert, Norman of Lincoln, Edric son of Colne, Earl Hugh (of Chester), Osmer the priest and Godwin the priest. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward, Toki (son of Auti), Leofric (brother of Leofnoth), Brun and Colne (father of Edric).
The settlement was assessed at 16.36 hides for tax. There was land for 8 ploughs. Its recorded resources included meadow (16 acres), woodland (3 * 2 furlongs) and 11 mills. The manors were valued at 30 pounds in 1086, up from 24 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 →
Derby 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 Derby'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 Derby.
237 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Derby, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Derby 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.