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, Hereford was held by Hereford (St Mary), bishop of.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Hereford in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Hereford (St Mary), bishop of, chaplains, two and man-at-arms, one. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Hereford (St Mary), bishop of.
The record notes 15.5 plough teams at work (10 in the lord's demesne and 5.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 11 heads of household: 3 villagers, 6 smallholders and 2 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. The manors were valued at 9.85 pounds in 1086, up from 6.7 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 →
Hereford 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 Hereford'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 Hereford.
The bedrock beneath Hereford is Pridoli Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Pridoli).
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.