Domesday Book · Essex

Essex

435 Domesday villages

Recorded in William the Conqueror's survey of 1086

About this county

Essex in the Domesday survey

Essex in 1086 was a densely settled county close to London, with fertile soils and strong connections to continental trade. The Norman nobility had taken over its Anglo-Saxon estates rapidly after the Conquest, and its proximity to the capital made it a county of considerable strategic importance. The Domesday survey records a patchwork of small and medium manors across its forested and agricultural landscape.

Notable settlements

Essex has 435 Domesday settlements. Aubrey has full historical records for all of them — here are the most notable by recorded value in 1086:

Colchester
180.75 pounds in 1086
Maldon
135.55 pounds in 1086
Writtle
122 pounds in 1086
Ipswich
90.05999999999999 pounds in 1086
Barking
82 pounds in 1086
Waltham
72.43 pounds in 1086
Waltham
71.2 pounds in 1086
Hatfield
60 pounds in 1086
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Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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