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, Lullingstone was held by Geoffrey of Rots.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Lullingstone in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by Geoffrey of Rots, King William, Mauger and Osbern Paisforiere, under Bishop Odo of Bayeux. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Brictsi the noble, Bruning and Siward Sot.
The settlement was assessed at 2 hides for tax. The record notes 7 plough teams at work (3 in the lord's demesne and 4 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 26 heads of household: 10 villagers, 7 smallholders, 1 cottager and 8 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (5 acres), woodland (20 swine render) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 13.5 pounds in 1086, up from 9 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 →
Lullingstone 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 Lullingstone'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.
113 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Lullingstone, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Lullingstone 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.