A place in Shropshire 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, Bromfield was held by Bromfield (St Mary), canons of.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Bromfield in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Bromfield (St Mary), canons of, Nigel the doctor and Robert son of Wiuhomarch, under Earl Roger (of Shrewsbury). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Bromfield (St Mary), canons of and Spirtes the priest.
The settlement was assessed at 20 hides for tax. There was land for 54 ploughs, with 14 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 8 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 27 heads of household: 15 villagers and 12 smallholders. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. The manors were valued at 3.3 pounds in 1086.
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 →
Bromfield was one of the settlements recorded in Shropshire in the 1086 survey. Shropshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Bromfield'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.
139 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Bromfield, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Bromfield is Pridoli Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Pridoli).
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.