A place in Worcestershire 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, Eldersfield was held by Ansgot.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Eldersfield in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Ansgot, Lyre (Sainte-Marie), abbey of, King William and Wulfgeat. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, it was held by Reinbald of Cirencester.
The settlement was assessed at 5 hides for tax. The record notes 14 plough teams at work (3 in the lord's demesne and 11 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 29 heads of household: 13 villagers, 13 smallholders and 3 slaves. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included woodland (2 * 2 leagues) and 1 mill.
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 →
Eldersfield was one of the settlements recorded in Worcestershire in the 1086 survey. Worcestershire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Eldersfield'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 Eldersfield.
759 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Eldersfield, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Eldersfield is Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated) (Triassic).
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.