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, Hatfield was held by Count E(ustace of Boulogne).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Hatfield in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Count E(ustace of Boulogne), Robert Gernon and King William. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by (Earl) Harold.
The settlement was assessed at 21.5 hides for tax. The record notes 39.5 plough teams at work (8 in the lord's demesne and 31.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 114 heads of household: 61 villagers, 30 smallholders, 1 freeman and 22 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (120 acres) and woodland (840 pigs). The manor was valued at 60 pounds in 1086, up from 50.25 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 →
Hatfield 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 Hatfield'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 Hatfield.
504 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Hatfield, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Hatfield 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.