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, Framlingham was held by R(oger) Bigot.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Framlingham in 1086, they recorded 6 manors held by R(oger) Bigot, Robert Malet, W(illiam) of Caen, Fulcred, Bishop William (of Thetford) and Ralph of Limésy, under Earl Hugh (of Chester). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Aelmer, Munulf, free man, one, free men, six and four halves of, free men, three, Brictnoth, Edric of Laxfield, Eva, Thorkil, free man, one half, Herewold and Brictmer (son of Queneva).
The settlement was assessed at 14.09 hides for tax. The record notes 37.5 plough teams at work (9 in the lord's demesne and 28.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 101 heads of household: 41 villagers, 58 smallholders, 1 freeman and 1 slave. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (26 acres) and woodland (208 pigs). The manors were valued at 41.84 pounds in 1086, up from 19.41 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 →
Framlingham 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 Framlingham'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.
39 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Framlingham, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Framlingham 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.