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, Westerfield was held by Norman.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Westerfield in 1086, they recorded 16 manors held by Norman, Osbern, Count Alan (of Brittany), Aelfric the priest, Humphrey (son of Robert), Robert Malet, Roger of Poitou, Hervey (of Bourges), Hugh de Montfort, William of Bouville, Roger of Rames, Arnold, Gerald, Turstin, Almer, Bernard and free men, six, under Ely (St Etheldreda), abbey of, Geoffrey de Mandeville and Walter the deacon. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Barn, Stanwin of Boyton, free men, six, Wulfric, free man, one, free men, two, Wulfgeat, Asroth, Thorkil, Ordric, Langfer of Westerfield, free men, three, free men, five, Almer and Aelfric the priest.
The settlement was assessed at 4.06 hides for tax. The record notes 7 plough teams at work (2 in the lord's demesne and 5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 8 heads of household: 2 villagers and 6 smallholders. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (2 acres). The manors were valued at 4.340000000000001 pounds in 1086, up from 10 shillings 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 →
Westerfield 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 Westerfield'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.
14 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Westerfield, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Westerfield is Thames Group (Eocene).
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.