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, Washington was held by Gilbert.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Washington in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Gilbert, Leofwin, Ralph, William, William of Braose and Morin. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Earl Gyrth, Leofwin and Edwin.
The settlement was assessed at 60 hides for tax. There was land for 34 ploughs, with 41.5 plough teams at work (5 in the lord's demesne and 36.5 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 158 heads of household: 125 villagers, 27 smallholders and 6 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (11 acres), woodland (70 swine render) and 1 mill. The manors were valued at 53.3 pounds in 1086, up from 50.5 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 →
Washington 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 Washington'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 Washington.
1,107 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Washington, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Washington is Grey Chalk Subgroup (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.