A place in Lincolnshire 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, Laceby was held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Laceby in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William of Percy and Robert, under Drogo of la Beuvrière. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Erik (brother of Tosti), Swein, Tosti (brother of Erik), Alwin and Rolf (son of Skjaldvor).
The settlement was assessed at 9.18 hides for tax. There was land for 16.3 ploughs, with 16.6 plough teams at work (3 in the lord's demesne and 13.6 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 95 heads of household: 5 villagers, 5 smallholders and 85 freemen. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (360 acres), woodland (100 acres) and 2 mills.
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 →
Laceby was one of the settlements recorded in Lincolnshire in the 1086 survey. Lincolnshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Laceby'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 Laceby.
3 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Laceby, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Laceby 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.