A place in Somerset 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, Belluton was held by Aelfric (of Keynsham).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Belluton in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Aelfric (of Keynsham), Alfred (of Marlborough), (Edeva) wife of Wulfward, White, Bishop Geoffrey of Coutances, Roger (of Stanton) and King William, under Count Eustace (of Boulogne). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Queen Edith, Tovi (the sheriff of Somerset), Wulfmer and Wulfward (White the noble).
The settlement was assessed at 54 hides for tax. There was land for 123 ploughs, with 92.5 plough teams at work (16.5 in the lord's demesne and 76 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 184 heads of household: 98 villagers, 61 smallholders and 25 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (166 acres), woodland (1 * 1 leagues & 3 * 4 furlongs & 4 acres mixed measures) and 9 mills. The manors were valued at 126.25 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 →
Belluton was one of the settlements recorded in Somerset in the 1086 survey. Somerset in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Belluton'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 Belluton.
727 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Belluton, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Belluton is Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Triassic).
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.