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, Rorrington was held by Oswulf.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Rorrington in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Oswulf and Leofric, under Roger son of Corbet and Robert son of Corbet. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Alward (son of Almund) and Aelfric.
The settlement was assessed at 0.5 hides for tax. The record notes 2 plough teams at work (1.5 in the lord's demesne and 0.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 15 heads of household: 8 smallholders and 7 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included woodland (15 pigs). The manors were valued at 12 shillings in 1086, up from 10 shillings 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 →
Rorrington 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 Rorrington'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 Rorrington.
104 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Rorrington, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Rorrington is Llanvirn Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Whiterock).
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.