243 Domesday villages
Recorded in William the Conqueror's survey of 1086
Oxfordshire in 1086 was a county of Thames valley meadows and Cotswold uplands, with the town of Oxford growing in importance as a crossing point on the river. Its manors were distributed among royal estates, great abbeys such as Abingdon, and the lay Norman aristocracy. The county's open-field farming system was already well established, shaping a landscape of nucleated villages that persists to this day.
Oxfordshire has 243 Domesday settlements. Aubrey has full historical records for all of them — here are the most notable by recorded value in 1086:
Research any location in Oxfordshire with a full Aubrey report
Combine Domesday records with archaeological finds, scheduled monuments, field-name history and more — for any specific postcode or grid reference in Oxfordshire.
Pick any location and Aubrey pulls together 15 strands of its history, each drawn from the record:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Aubrey has published full historical research reports for 3 notable settlements in this county — read the full historical research report for Watlington Hoard and Great Tew, Oxfordshire and Hampton Gay, Oxfordshire.