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, Eling was held by King William.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Eling in 1086, they recorded a manor held by King William. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by King Edward.
There was land for 20 ploughs, with 12 plough teams at work (5 in the lord's demesne and 7 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 69 heads of household: 13 villagers, 43 smallholders and 13 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (125 acres), woodland (20 swine render;in Forest) and 2 mills. The manor was valued at 20 pounds in 1086, down from 38.41 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 →
Eling 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 Eling'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 Eling.
2 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Eling, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Eling is Bracklesham Group And Barton Group (Undifferentiated) (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.