A place in Oxfordshire 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, Bourton was held by Wimund (of Tessel).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Bourton in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by Wimund (of Tessel), Payne of Clanfield and Ansketil of Graye, under Arnulf of Hesdin and Earl William son of Osbern. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Thorgot.
The settlement was assessed at 10 hides for tax. There was land for 16.5 ploughs, with 20 plough teams at work (7 in the lord's demesne and 13 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 33 heads of household: 19 villagers, 9 smallholders and 5 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (20 acres) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 10 pounds in 1086, up from 9 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 →
Bourton was one of the settlements recorded in Oxfordshire in the 1086 survey. Oxfordshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Bourton'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 Bourton.
56 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Bourton, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Bourton is Kellaways Formation And Oxford Clay Formation (Undifferentiated) (Oxfordian).
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.