A place in Sussex 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, Eastbourne was held by Reinbert (the sheriff).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Eastbourne in 1086, they recorded 3 manors held by Reinbert (the sheriff), Alfred (the butler), Count Robert of Mortain, Roger the cleric, William (of Keynes) and castle wardens, under (Robert) Count of Eu. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by King Edward.
The settlement was assessed at 47.5 hides for tax. There was land for 30 ploughs, with 40 plough teams at work (8.5 in the lord's demesne and 31.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 88 heads of household: 74 villagers, 9 smallholders and 5 cottagers. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (25 acres) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 46.6 pounds in 1086, down from 102 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 →
Eastbourne was one of the settlements recorded in Sussex in the 1086 survey. Sussex in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Eastbourne'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 Eastbourne.
205 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Eastbourne, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Eastbourne is Gault Formation And Upper Greensand Formation (Undifferentiated) (Cenomanian).
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.