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, Merriott was held by Dodman.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Merriott in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Dodman and Harding (son of Alnoth), under Count Robert of Mortain. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Brictward, Leofwin and Godwin.
The settlement was assessed at 12 hides for tax. There was land for 13 ploughs, with 10 plough teams at work (4 in the lord's demesne and 6 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 39 heads of household: 19 villagers, 12 smallholders and 8 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (25 acres) and 4 mills. The manors were valued at 11 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 →
Merriott 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 Merriott'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 Merriott.
1,355 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Merriott, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Merriott is Lias Group (Aalenian).
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.