A place in Leicestershire 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, Dishley was held by Godwin of Shepshed.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Dishley in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Godwin of Shepshed and Robert (son of Hugh), under King William and Earl Hugh (of Chester). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Queen Edith and Earl Harold.
The settlement was assessed at 36 hides for tax. There was land for 80 ploughs, with 23 plough teams at work (5 in the lord's demesne and 18 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 72 heads of household: 41 villagers, 14 smallholders, 16 freemen and 1 slave. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (10 acres), woodland (4 * 4 furlongs) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 42 pounds in 1086, up from 40 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 →
Dishley was one of the settlements recorded in Leicestershire in the 1086 survey. Leicestershire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Dishley'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 Dishley.
1,427 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Dishley, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Dishley is Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Triassic).
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.