A place in Surrey 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, Bramley was held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Bramley in 1086, they recorded 6 manors held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux and widow, one. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Alnoth the noble (of Kent), free men, Aelfric, widow, one, Alward (the noble) and Alwin.
The settlement was assessed at 40.5 hides for tax. There was land for 38 ploughs, with 40 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 34 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 160 heads of household: 89 villagers, 48 cottagers and 23 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (20 acres), woodland (100 swine render) and 6 mills. The manors were valued at 68.6 pounds in 1086, up from 40 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 →
Bramley was one of the settlements recorded in Surrey in the 1086 survey. Surrey in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Bramley'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.
809 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Bramley, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Bramley is Lower Greensand Group (Albian).
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.