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, Leadenham was held by Count Alan (of Brittany).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Leadenham in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Count Alan (of Brittany), Deoring and Kolgrim (of Grantham). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Earl Ralph the constable.
The settlement was assessed at 24 hides for tax. There was land for 24 ploughs, with 36.5 plough teams at work (8.5 in the lord's demesne and 28 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 117 heads of household: 69 villagers, 4 smallholders and 44 freemen. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included 0.5 mills. The manor was valued at 32 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 →
Leadenham 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 Leadenham'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 Leadenham.
127 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Leadenham, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Leadenham 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.