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, Wykeham was held by Rainer of Brimeux.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Wykeham in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Rainer of Brimeux. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Jaulfr.
The settlement was assessed at 1 hide for tax. There was land for 2 ploughs. The manor was valued at 15 shillings in 1086, down from 1.5 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 →
Wykeham 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 Wykeham'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 Wykeham.
The bedrock beneath Wykeham is Grey Chalk Subgroup (Cenomanian).
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.