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, Corsham was held by Caen (Saint-Etienne), abbey of.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Corsham in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Caen (Saint-Etienne), abbey of, Edgar (the priest) and King William. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Edgar (the priest)'s father and Earl Tosti.
The settlement was assessed at 34 hides for tax. There was land for 55 ploughs, with 50 plough teams at work (7 in the lord's demesne and 43 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 87 heads of household: 68 villagers, 9 cottagers and 10 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (32 acres), woodland (2 * 2 leagues) and 2 mills. The manor was valued at 37.25 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 →
Corsham 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 Corsham'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 Corsham.
228 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Corsham, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Corsham is Great Oolite Group (Bathonian).
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.