A place in Devon 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, Braunton was held by Baldwin the sheriff.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Braunton in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by Baldwin the sheriff, Robert of Pont-Chardon, King William and Algar the priest, under Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward and Brictric, son of Camm.
The settlement was assessed at 2.25 hides for tax. There was land for 48 ploughs, with 39 plough teams at work (4 in the lord's demesne and 35 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 100 heads of household: 43 villagers, 53 smallholders and 4 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (2 acres) and woodland (80 acres). The manors were valued at 20.5 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 →
Braunton was one of the settlements recorded in Devon in the 1086 survey. Devon in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Braunton'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 Braunton.
146 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Braunton, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Braunton is Upper Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Late Devonian).
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.