A place in Hertfordshire 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, Hoddesdon was held by Count Alan (of Brittany).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Hoddesdon in 1086, they recorded 6 manors held by Count Alan (of Brittany), Freeman, one, London (St Martin-le-Grand), canons of, Edward of Salisbury, Ralph, Peter the burgess, Count E(ustace of Boulogne), Robert Gernon and King William, under Count Eustace (of Boulogne) and Geoffrey de Mandeville. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Edeva the fair, Freeman, one, Godgyth of Thorley, Gode (mother of Wulfric) and (Earl) Harold.
The settlement was assessed at 32 hides for tax. There was land for 10.5 ploughs, with 45.5 plough teams at work (11 in the lord's demesne and 34.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 153 heads of household: 68 villagers, 46 smallholders, 10 cottagers, 1 freeman and 28 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (4 ploughs) and woodland (260 pigs). The manors were valued at 89.75 pounds in 1086, up from 88.75 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 →
Hoddesdon was one of the settlements recorded in Hertfordshire in the 1086 survey. Hertfordshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Hoddesdon'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 Hoddesdon.
141 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Hoddesdon, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Hoddesdon is Lambeth Group (Paleocene).
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.