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, Leicester was held by King William.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Leicester in 1086, they recorded 10 manors held by King William, Hugh of Grandmesnil, Hugh of Gouville, Henry of Ferrers, Robert the bursar, Countess Judith and Lincoln (St Mary), bishop of. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward.
The settlement was assessed at 16 hides for tax. The record notes 13 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 7 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 15 heads of household: 3 villagers and 12 smallholders. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (8 acres), woodland (6 * 3 furlongs) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 64.5 pounds in 1086, up from 30 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 →
Leicester 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 Leicester'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 Leicester.
1,385 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Leicester, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Leicester 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.