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, St Osyth was held by London (St Paul), bishop of.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed St Osyth in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by London (St Paul), bishop of, Count Eustace (of Boulogne) and Turold, under Ranulf Peverel. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by London (St Paul), bishop of, Edward and Siward (Barn).
The settlement was assessed at 13.83 hides for tax. The record notes 21 plough teams at work (8 in the lord's demesne and 13 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 53 heads of household: 22 villagers, 21 smallholders and 10 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (4 acres), woodland (412 pigs) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 31.5 pounds in 1086, down from 39 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 →
St Osyth 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 St Osyth'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 St Osyth.
222 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of St Osyth, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath St Osyth 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.