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, Reed was held by Osbern.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Reed in 1086, they recorded 6 manors held by Osbern, Hardwin (of Scales), Alward (the noble), Robert son of Roscelin, Eudo the steward and Hardwin of Scales, under Bishop Odo of Bayeux, Count Alan (of Brittany) and Count Eustace (of Boulogne). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Edeva (the fair), Leofing the priest, Edeva's man, Thorbiorn (of Orwell), Alward (the noble), Sinoth, the Abbot of Chatteris' man and Sired, Earl Harold's man.
The settlement was assessed at 12.99 hides for tax. There was land for 20.3 ploughs, with 13 plough teams at work (5 in the lord's demesne and 8 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 49 heads of household: 18 villagers, 13 smallholders, 8 cottagers and 10 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (0.5 ploughs) and woodland (10 woodland for fences). The manors were valued at 13.1 pounds in 1086, down from 19.1 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 →
Reed 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 Reed'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.
1,521 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Reed, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Reed is White Chalk Subgroup (Maastrichtian).
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.