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, Plumstead was held by Canterbury (St Augustine), abbey of.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Plumstead in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Canterbury (St Augustine), abbey of, under Bishop Odo of Bayeux. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Brictsi the noble and Sorag.
The settlement was assessed at 4.5 hides for tax. There was land for 5 ploughs, with 12 plough teams at work (2 in the lord's demesne and 10 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 43 heads of household: 34 villagers, 3 smallholders and 6 cottagers. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included woodland (5 swine render). The manors were valued at 20 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 →
Plumstead 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 Plumstead'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 Plumstead.
The bedrock beneath Plumstead is Thanet Sand Formation (Thanetian).
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.