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, Stonham was held by Roger Bigot.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Stonham in 1086, they recorded 15 manors held by Roger Bigot, King William, Warengar of Hedingham, Wulfmer, Robert Malet, Roger of Poitou, Artald, Albold the priest, Ro(ger) Bigot, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, Richard son of (Count) Gilbert, Ranulf Peverel and Judicael the priest, under Count Alan (of Brittany) and (Bury) St Edmunds, abbey of. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward, Burghard (of Mendlesham), free men, three, Godmer, free man, one, free men, five, Aelmer, Brun the reeve, free men, seventeen, Aelfric, Alfled, Wulfmer, Wulfred, Wulfric, Wulfwin, Godwin, Leofric, Wulfward, Aelfric (son of Brun), Leofwin, Sperun, free men, two, Alwold the priest, Godwy, Viking of Helmingham, free men, twenty-six, Wihtgar (son of Aelfric) and free men, nine.
The settlement was assessed at 14.64 hides for tax. The record notes 39.8 plough teams at work (13.5 in the lord's demesne and 26.3 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 75 heads of household: 24 villagers, 32 smallholders, 6 freemen and 13 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (1 acres), woodland (6 pigs) and 1.5 mills. The manors were valued at 31.05 pounds in 1086, up from 26.11 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 →
Stonham 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 Stonham'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.
85 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Stonham, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Stonham 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.