A place in Dorset 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, Winterborne was held by King William.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Winterborne in 1086, they recorded 26 manors held by King William, Osbern, Robert (son of Ivo), Hubert (of St Clair), Mauger (of Carteret), Dodman, Count Robert of Mortain, Walkhere, Urso, Azo, Hugh son of Grip's wife (Hawise), Ralph, Robert, Aelfric (the hunter), Brictwin (the reeve), Godwin the reeve, Hugh Gosbert and John (the usher), under Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances, Walter of Douai and Waleran the hunter. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward, Thormund, brothers, two, Alfred, thanes, two, Godwin, Alward, thanes, three, Alric, men, two, Alwin, Almer, Aelfric, Brictwin (the reeve), Godwin the reeve, Aelfric (the hunter) and Alwold.
The settlement was assessed at 63.61 hides for tax. There was land for 66.4 ploughs, with 38.5 plough teams at work (19 in the lord's demesne and 19.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 183 heads of household: 67 villagers, 75 smallholders, 7 cottagers and 34 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (80 acres), woodland (3 * 3 leagues) and 7 mills. The manors were valued at 91.63000000000001 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 →
Winterborne was one of the settlements recorded in Dorset in the 1086 survey. Dorset in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Winterborne'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 Winterborne.
1,239 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Winterborne, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Winterborne is White Chalk Subgroup (Maastrichtian).
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.