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, Mablethorpe was held by Earl Hugh (of Chester).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Mablethorpe in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by Earl Hugh (of Chester), Rademar and Rainer of Brimeux, under Gilbert of Ghent. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Earl Harold, Tonni of Lusby and Jaulfr.
The settlement was assessed at 21.25 hides for tax. There was land for 22.5 ploughs, with 20.5 plough teams at work. The recorded population was 160 heads of household: 42 villagers, 35 smallholders and 83 freemen. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (1000 acres) and woodland (80 acres).
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 →
Mablethorpe 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 Mablethorpe'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 Mablethorpe.
22 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Mablethorpe, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Mablethorpe 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.