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, Gaddesby was held by King William.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Gaddesby in 1086, they recorded 4 manors held by King William, Feggi, Othenkar (son of Alnoth), Earl Hugh (of Chester) and men-at-arms, four, under Countess Judith. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward and Earl Harold.
The settlement was assessed at 159.05 hides for tax. There was land for 1.5 ploughs, with 132.5 plough teams at work (15 in the lord's demesne and 117.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 641 heads of household: 263 villagers, 141 smallholders, 235 freemen and 2 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (176 acres & 3 * 1.5 furlongs mixed measures), woodland (3 * 3 furlongs & 5 acres; 1 * 0.5 league & 4 * 3 furlongs mixed measures) and 13.5 mills. The manors were valued at 35 pounds in 1086.
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 →
Gaddesby 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 Gaddesby'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 Gaddesby.
5,206 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Gaddesby, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Gaddesby is Lias Group (Aalenian).
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.