A place in Yorkshire 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, Balby was held by Nigel (Fossard).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Balby in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Nigel (Fossard) and Roger of Bully, under Count Robert of Mortain. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Earl Tosti and Swein (son of Svavi).
The settlement was assessed at 26 hides for tax. There was land for 26 ploughs, with 43 plough teams at work (5 in the lord's demesne and 38 held by the villagers). The recorded population was 131 heads of household: 39 villagers, 44 smallholders and 48 freemen. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (4 acres), woodland (1.5 * 1 leagues) and 2 mills. The manors were valued at 15 pounds in 1086, down from 22 pounds in 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 →
Balby was one of the settlements recorded in Yorkshire in the 1086 survey. Yorkshire in the Domesday survey →
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Balby'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 Balby.
1,720 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Balby, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Balby 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.