A place in Hampshire 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, Chilton was held by William the forester.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Chilton in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by William the forester and Jocelyn son of Azur, under William son of Azur. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Aelfric (Small).
The settlement was assessed at 1 hide for tax. There was land for 2 ploughs. The recorded population was 2 heads of household: 2 villagers. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (4 acres). The manors were valued at 15 shillings in 1086, down from 1 pound 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 →
Chilton was one of the settlements recorded in Hampshire in the 1086 survey. Hampshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Chilton'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.
The bedrock beneath Chilton is Wealden Group (Barremian).
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.