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, Rauceby was held by Almod.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Rauceby in 1086, they recorded 8 manors held by Almod, Robert of Vessey, Edelo of Rauceby, Brian of Rauceby, Ralph nephew of Geoffrey Alselin and Geoffrey Alselin, under Durham (St Cuthbert), bishop of and Robert of Stafford. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Earl Morcar, Aelric (son of Mergeat), Osmund (Benz), Siward, Wulfsi, Thorfridh and Toki (son of Auti).
The settlement was assessed at 30.48 hides for tax. There was land for 32.9 ploughs, with 29.2 plough teams at work (1.5 in the lord's demesne and 27.7 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 128 heads of household: 17 villagers, 18 smallholders and 93 freemen. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. The manors were valued at 5.5 pounds in 1086, up from 5 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 →
Rauceby 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 Rauceby'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 Rauceby.
157 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Rauceby, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Rauceby is Great Oolite Group (Bathonian).
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.