A place in Herefordshire 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, Ailey was held by Gilbert son of Turold.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Ailey in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Gilbert son of Turold. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Earl Harold.
The settlement was assessed at 2 hides for tax. There was land for 12 ploughs. The manor was valued at 5 shillings in 1086.
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 →
Ailey was one of the settlements recorded in Herefordshire in the 1086 survey. Herefordshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Ailey'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 Ailey 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.