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, Stotfold was held by Richard (of Sourdeval).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Stotfold in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Richard (of Sourdeval) and Fulco (of Lisors), under Count Robert of Mortain and Roger of Bully. Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Ligulf and Swein (son of Svavi).
The settlement was assessed at 6.79 hides for tax. There was land for 5 ploughs, with 2 plough teams at work. The recorded population was 4 heads of household: 1 smallholder and 3 freemen. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (6 acres) and woodland (0.5 league * 3 furlongs mixed measures). The manors were valued at 1.5 pounds in 1086, down from 3 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 →
Stotfold 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 Stotfold'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 Stotfold.
2,287 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Stotfold, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Stotfold is Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation (Westphalian).
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.