A place in Gloucestershire 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, Ashton was held by Gerard (the chamberlain).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Ashton in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Gerard (the chamberlain), Cormeilles (Sainte-Marie), abbey of and King William. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by thane, one and Thorbert, Earl Harold's thane.
The settlement was assessed at 12 hides for tax. The record notes 12 plough teams at work (5 in the lord's demesne and 7 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 24 heads of household: 12 villagers, 4 smallholders and 8 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. The manors were valued at 32 pounds in 1086, up from 2 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 →
Ashton was one of the settlements recorded in Gloucestershire in the 1086 survey. Gloucestershire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Ashton'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 Ashton.
1,085 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Ashton, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Ashton is Lias Group (Aalenian).
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.