A place in Norfolk 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, Shernborne was held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Shernborne in 1086, they recorded 5 manors held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William of Warenne, free men, three, Berner the bowman, Peter of Valognes and W(illiam) of Parthenay, under Ivo Tallboys. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by (Archbishop) Stigand, free man, one, free men, four, free men, sixteen and (Earl) Harold.
The settlement was assessed at 35.38 hides for tax. The record notes 33 plough teams at work (10 in the lord's demesne and 23 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 259 heads of household: 73 villagers, 134 smallholders, 38 freemen and 14 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (88 acres), woodland (100 pigs) and 15.58 mills. The manors were valued at 93.35 pounds in 1086, up from 52.8 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 →
Shernborne was one of the settlements recorded in Norfolk in the 1086 survey. Norfolk in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Shernborne'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.
94 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Shernborne, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Shernborne 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.