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, Chitterne was held by Earl Aubrey (of Coucy).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Chitterne in 1086, they recorded 4 manors held by Earl Aubrey (of Coucy), Edward of Salisbury and Robert. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Harding (son of Alnoth), Azur of Slindon, 144720 and Wulfwynn (of Creslow).
The settlement was assessed at 27.25 hides for tax. There was land for 27 ploughs, with 17 plough teams at work (6 in the lord's demesne and 11 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 43 heads of household: 23 villagers, 4 smallholders and 16 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (18 acres) and woodland (1 * 0.5 leagues). The manors were valued at 51 pounds in 1086.
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 →
Chitterne 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 Chitterne'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 Chitterne.
575 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Chitterne, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Chitterne is White Chalk Subgroup (Maastrichtian).
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.