A place in Wiltshire 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, Bath was held by Hugh the interpreter.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Bath in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Hugh the interpreter and King William. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Queen Edith.
The settlement was assessed at 20 hides for tax. The manor was valued at 66.1 pounds in 1086, unchanged since 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 →
Bath was one of the settlements recorded in Wiltshire in the 1086 survey. Wiltshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Bath'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 Bath.
352 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Bath, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Bath is Lias Group (Aalenian).
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.