A place in Kent 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, Folkestone was held by Alfred.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Folkestone in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Alfred, Alfred the steward, Baldric (of Lindsey), Bernard of St Ouen, Eudo of Folkestone, Hugh son of William, Richard, Walter of Abbeville, Walter son of Engelbert, Wesman and William of Arques, who held from Bishop Odo of Bayeux. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Earl Godwin.
The settlement was assessed at 40 hides for tax. There was land for 120 ploughs, with 96 plough teams at work (30.5 in the lord's demesne and 65.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 395 heads of household: 230 villagers, 158 smallholders and 7 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (140 acres), woodland (48 swine render) and 11.5 mills. The manor was valued at 145.5 pounds in 1086, up from 110 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 →
Folkestone was one of the settlements recorded in Kent in the 1086 survey. Kent in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Folkestone'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.
35 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Folkestone, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Folkestone is Lower Greensand Group (Albian).
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.