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, Holwell was held by Ramsey (St Benedict), abbey of.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Holwell in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Ramsey (St Benedict), abbey of and Westminster (St Peter), abbey of. The same lords had held the land before the Norman Conquest of 1066.
The settlement was assessed at 10 hides for tax. There was land for 10 ploughs, with 10 plough teams at work (3 in the lord's demesne and 7 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 29 heads of household: 19 villagers, 5 smallholders and 5 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (1 ploughs) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 9 pounds in 1086, unchanged since 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 →
Holwell 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 Holwell'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 Holwell.
580 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Holwell, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Holwell is Gault Formation And Upper Greensand Formation (Undifferentiated) (Cenomanian).
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.