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, Melmerby was held by Aldred.
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Melmerby in 1086, they recorded a manor held by Aldred, who held from Count Alan (of Brittany). The same lord had held the land before the Norman Conquest of 1066.
The settlement was assessed at 6 hides for tax. There was land for 4 ploughs. Melmerby was valued at 8 shillings before the Conquest; no 1086 value was recorded.
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 →
Melmerby 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 Melmerby'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 Melmerby.
55 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Melmerby, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Melmerby is Yoredale Group (Bashkirian).
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.