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, Ditton was held by Ralph of Mortimer.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Ditton in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Ralph of Mortimer and Roger of Lacy. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by (Queen) Edith and Siward (the fat).
The settlement was assessed at 2 hides for tax.
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 →
Ditton 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 Ditton'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 Ditton.
201 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Ditton, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Ditton is Lower Devonian Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Early Devonian).
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.