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, Sarnesfield and Sarnesfield was held by Guthmund (son of Saeric).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Sarnesfield and Sarnesfield in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Guthmund (son of Saeric) and Drogo (son of Poyntz), under Roger of Lacy and Ralph of Tosny. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Saeric (father of Guthmund) and Alward.
The settlement was assessed at 4.25 hides for tax. The record notes 7 plough teams at work (4 in the lord's demesne and 3 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 21 heads of household: 2 villagers, 15 smallholders and 4 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. The manors were valued at 4.75 pounds in 1086, up from 2.75 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 →
Sarnesfield and Sarnesfield 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 Sarnesfield and Sarnesfield'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 Sarnesfield and Sarnesfield 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.