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, Woking was held by Osbern (of Eu).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Woking in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Osbern (of Eu), Walter son of Other, King William, Ansgot and Godfrey, under Exeter (St Peter), bishop of. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward and Exeter (St Peter), bishop of.
The settlement was assessed at 23.5 hides for tax. There was land for 15.5 ploughs, with 31 plough teams at work (2.5 in the lord's demesne and 28.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 71 heads of household: 53 villagers, 15 smallholders and 3 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (32 acres), woodland (133 swine render) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 24.5 pounds in 1086, down from 25 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 →
Woking 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 Woking'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.
236 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Woking, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Woking is Bracklesham Group And Barton Group (Undifferentiated) (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.