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, Cowley was held by Roger (of Ivry).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Cowley in 1086, they recorded 4 manors held by Roger (of Ivry), Toli and Leofwin (of Nuneham), under Bishop Odo of Bayeux, Count Eustace (of Boulogne) and Miles Crispin. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Toli and Leofwin (of Nuneham).
The settlement was assessed at 11.16 hides for tax. There was land for 18 ploughs, with 17 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 11 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 47 heads of household: 28 villagers, 11 smallholders and 8 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (4 acres), woodland (2 * 2 acres) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 10 pounds in 1086, down from 11 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 →
Cowley 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 Cowley'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 Cowley.
167 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Cowley, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Cowley is Corallian Group (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.