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, Thorney was held by Frodo (brother of Abbot Baldwin).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Thorney in 1086, they recorded 5 manors held by Frodo (brother of Abbot Baldwin), Hugh de Montfort, Count Robert of Mortain, Roger of Auberville, Roger of Poitou, King William, Roger of Candos and Euen, under Hervey of Bourges. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward, brothers, four, free man, one, Wulfric, Earl Ralph the constable, free men, two and Brictric Blaec.
The settlement was assessed at 9.15 hides for tax. The record notes 26.1 plough teams at work (2 in the lord's demesne and 24.1 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 109 heads of household: 40 villagers, 25 smallholders, 42 freemen and 2 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (12 acres), woodland (6 pigs) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 45.76 pounds in 1086, up from 20 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 →
Thorney 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 Thorney'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.
92 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Thorney, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Thorney 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.