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, Marden was held by Ansketil.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Marden in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by Ansketil, Norman the pigman, King William, William son of Norman, burgess of Hereford, Ingelrann and Stephen (son of Fulcred), under Roger of Lacy. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward, riding men, three, Edwy the noble and Alward.
The settlement was assessed at 4.83 hides for tax. The record notes 36 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 30 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 49 heads of household: 29 villagers, 9 smallholders and 11 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (40 acres) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 19.5 pounds in 1086, up from 11.5 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 →
Marden 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 Marden'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 Marden.
1 recorded find has been logged within about 5 miles of Marden, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Marden 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.