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, Waldingfield was held by Roger of Poitou.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Waldingfield in 1086, they recorded 7 manors held by Roger of Poitou, (Bury) St Edmunds, abbey of, Elinant, Richard son of (Count) Gilbert, Ranulf Peverel, Aubrey de Vere and Ranulf brother of Ilger. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Wulfmer, free men, eleven, free men, three, free men, two, Siward Barn, free men, fourteen, Wulfwin (son of Alfwin) and Wulfric.
The settlement was assessed at 22.71 hides for tax. The record notes 35 plough teams at work (10 in the lord's demesne and 25 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 125 heads of household: 29 villagers, 75 smallholders and 21 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (4 acres), woodland (3 pigs) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 47.5 pounds in 1086, up from 32.5 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 →
Waldingfield 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 Waldingfield'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 Waldingfield.
44 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Waldingfield, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Waldingfield is White Chalk Subgroup (Maastrichtian).
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.