A place in Essex 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, Dunmow was held by Adelulf of Marck.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Dunmow in 1086, they recorded 10 manors held by Adelulf of Marck, Wulfbert of Bumpstead, Arnold, priest, one, Edmer, Ralph, Serlo, (Geoffrey) Martel, William (of Bouville), Geoffrey de Mandeville and Ralph Baynard, under Count Eustace (of Boulogne), William of Warenne, Richard son of (Count) Gilbert, Swein of Essex, Eudo the steward and Haimo the sheriff. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Edmer, Earl Algar, Wihtgar (son of Aelfric), priest, one, free man, one, Esger (the constable), Freeman, one and Aelgyth (widow of Thorsten).
The settlement was assessed at 14.6 hides for tax. The record notes 28.5 plough teams at work (13.5 in the lord's demesne and 15 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 130 heads of household: 45 villagers, 60 smallholders, 1 freeman and 24 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (36 acres), woodland (300 pigs) and 3 mills. The manors were valued at 41.05 pounds in 1086, up from 20.85 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 →
Dunmow was one of the settlements recorded in Essex in the 1086 survey. Essex in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Dunmow'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 Dunmow.
247 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Dunmow, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Dunmow is Thames Group (Eocene).
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.