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, Wenlock was held by Much Wenlock (St Milburga), abbey of.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Wenlock in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Much Wenlock (St Milburga), abbey of. The same lord had held the land before the Norman Conquest of 1066.
The settlement was assessed at 20 hides for tax. There was land for 43.5 ploughs, with 26.5 plough teams at work (9.5 in the lord's demesne and 17 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 70 heads of household: 9 villagers, 46 smallholders and 15 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included woodland (300 pigs) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 12 pounds in 1086, down from 15 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 →
Wenlock 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 Wenlock'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 Wenlock.
145 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Wenlock, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Wenlock is Ludlow Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Ludlow).
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.