A place in Suffolk 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, Bungay was held by Earl H(ugh of Chester).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Bungay in 1086, they recorded 4 manors held by Earl H(ugh of Chester), King William, Wulfsi, Edric, Howard of Navestock, Earl Hugh (of Chester), William and Warin son of Burnin. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Alwin, (Archbishop) Stigand, Wulfmer, free men, six, Alfgar, Godric, Pat, free men, fifteen, free men, two, Aelfric, Sumarlithi (son of Karli), Ulfkil and free men, twenty-seven.
The settlement was assessed at 20.88 hides for tax. The record notes 45.5 plough teams at work (12 in the lord's demesne and 33.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 150 heads of household: 65 villagers, 74 smallholders and 11 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (37 acres), woodland (136 pigs) and 5.5 mills. The manors were valued at 26.759999999999998 pounds in 1086, up from 14.91 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 →
Bungay was one of the settlements recorded in Suffolk in the 1086 survey. Suffolk in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Bungay'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.
118 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Bungay, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Bungay is Neogene To Quaternary Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Quaternary).
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.