Every Aubrey report is built directly from primary archaeological and historical datasets. Here is exactly where the data comes from and how the report is assembled.
Seven primary datasets, all maintained by authoritative national institutions.
William the Conqueror's survey of England, commissioned in 1085. Aubrey's database contains every settlement recorded in all 38 Domesday counties, with lord, tenant-in-chief, land value, ploughlands, and population for each entry.
England's national register of scheduled monuments and listed buildings, together with equivalent registers for Scotland (HES) and Wales (Coflein). These records cover nationally protected sites from prehistoric earthworks to post-medieval buildings.
Digitised Roman road alignments across Britain, drawn from the Ordnance Survey and academic mapping. Aubrey identifies which Roman roads pass within range of your location and provides historical context for each.
Airborne laser scanning data from the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales. LiDAR penetrates tree canopy and reveals earthworks — ridge-and-furrow, enclosures, hollow ways — that are invisible on conventional maps.
Bedrock and superficial geology for every location in the UK. Aubrey uses geological data to contextualise find types, assess soil conditions, and explain why certain periods of activity cluster in particular landscapes.
First Edition 6-inch OS maps from the 1860s–1880s record field names that preserve traces of medieval and early modern land use — Battle Field, Old Churchyard, Kiln Close. Aubrey searches these names for clues about past activity.
From postcode to finished report in four steps.
You enter a GB postcode or place name. Aubrey resolves it to a precise latitude/longitude and derives the relevant administrative boundaries — parish, county, Domesday county code.
Aubrey queries each primary dataset for records within the search radius. Find counts, monument lists, and road intersections are all computed from the raw data — nothing is pre-cached at the report level.
The retrieved dataset results are passed to an AI model along with structured prompts. The AI writes each report section in plain English, drawing only on the data returned — it cannot introduce detail that the datasets did not provide.
Key claims are linked back to the underlying records. You can follow any find or monument reference to its source database entry. The report is yours to keep, download, and cite.
Aubrey queries the source databases directly. It does not summarise Wikipedia or other secondary sources.
The AI prompt architecture constrains the model to the data returned for your location. If the datasets returned no Roman monuments, the report will not claim there were Roman monuments.
Every monument reference and record in your report can be traced back to the originating database record. You can verify any claim Aubrey makes.
Scheduled monument records are updated by Historic England, and Aubrey queries the current state of each dataset at report generation time.
Read a complete Aubrey report for Alkmonton, Derbyshire: up to 15 sections and full source citations.