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, Cholderton was held by Wulfward (White the noble).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Cholderton in 1086, they recorded 4 manors held by Wulfward (White the noble), Arnulf of Hesdin, Godric and Bernard of Arlesey, under William of Eu. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Wulfward (White the noble), Saewy, Alwin, Wulfric and Alstan of Boscombe.
The settlement was assessed at 6.49 hides for tax. There was land for 5.5 ploughs, with 1 plough team at work. The recorded population was 7 heads of household: 5 smallholders and 2 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. The manors were valued at 15 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 →
Cholderton 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 Cholderton'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 Cholderton.
294 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Cholderton, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Cholderton 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.