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, Thornton was held by Ribald (brother of Count Alan).
When William the Conqueror's commissioners surveyed Thornton in 1086, they recorded 2 manors held by Ribald (brother of Count Alan), under Count Alan (of Brittany). Before the Conquest, in the time of King Edward, the land was held by Sten, Wulfward and Sigrith.
The settlement was assessed at 9 hides for tax. There was land for 6 ploughs, with 1 plough team at work. The recorded population was 6 heads of household: 1 villager and 5 smallholders. These are heads of household, so the settlement's true population was several times larger. Its recorded resources included meadow (3 acres). The manors were valued at 5 shillings in 1086, down from 1.3 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 →
Thornton 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 Thornton'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 Thornton.
1,204 recorded finds have been logged within about 5 miles of Thornton, reported by members of the public and entered in the national record of archaeological finds. They span these periods:
The bedrock beneath Thornton is Zechstein Group (Late Permian).
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.