A settlement recorded in William the Conqueror's great survey of England, completed in 1086.
In 1086, Harlaston and Little Harlaston was held by King William.
The Domesday Book was the result of a comprehensive survey ordered by William the Conqueror at Christmas 1085. Royal commissioners rode out across every county of England, recording the name and size of every settlement, who held it, what it was worth, and how that compared with the value it had held in the time of Edward the Confessor twenty years before.
For a settlement like Harlaston and Little Harlaston, being entered in the Domesday Book was a defining moment in its history — a written acknowledgement of its existence by the new Norman state. The survey recorded the manor's lord, its taxable assessment in hides or carucates, the number of ploughs at work, and the population of villagers, smallholders and slaves who farmed the land.
The names of Domesday settlements reveal the deep roots of England's landscape. Many carry Saxon, Danish or even older origins — names that were already ancient when the Norman commissioners inscribed them in the great survey. Understanding a place's Domesday record is the first step in tracing the full arc of its history from the early medieval period to the present day.
Staffordshire in 1086 was a heavily forested midland county, much of its upland still under woodland. Its manors were relatively modest in value compared with those of the southern counties, reflecting the more challenging terrain. The county had been affected by William's harrying of the north, and several settlements are recorded as waste or reduced. Stafford was the county town, though it was not yet of great size.
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.
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