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, Dawley was held by Earl Roger (of Shrewsbury).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Dawley in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Earl Roger (of Shrewsbury) and William (Pandolf). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Earl Edwin and Grim.
The settlement was assessed at 14 hides for tax. There was land for 26 ploughs, with 17 plough teams at work (7 in the lord's demesne and 10 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 27 heads of household: 19 villagers and 8 smallholders. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included 1 mill. The manor was valued at 18.5 pounds in 1086, down from 21.5 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 →
Dawley 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 Dawley'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 Dawley.
187 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Dawley, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Dawley is Warwickshire Group (Early Permian).
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.