Few local people realise that one of William the Conqueror’s last battles to take control of England took place at Aldreth Causeway (in the Parish of Willingham.) In 1070-71 Anglo-Saxons, Danes and armed monks entrenched on the Isle of Ely and formed a “resistance” movement to the invader William and his Norman Knights, who had landed at Pevensey Bay in 1066. Few realise that to take final control of England (after winning at The Battle of Hastings in1066) William the Conqueror led an army up from the South, and passed through some of our local ancient track-ways that are still in existence. This section will explain the story and where the action took place. We will try and provide information so that the tracks can be re-discovered and enjoyed by people today.
This section will also provide some background information into Domesday Book – a statistical survey carried out in 1086 on the orders of William the Conqueror himself. It was a census of people, and the productive resources, that existed through the newly conquered country of England. William must have been a clever and astute leader, who realised that a detailed census of this sort would assist him control England’s population and to raise taxes. Indeed war; restoration of a ravaged country and maintaining one’s authority would have been a costly business. A survey of this detail would have been costly and time-consuming, and would have been carried out for good reason.
Luckily for us William the Conqueror’s survey provides an insight into England’s towns and villages in 1086. Of course it only contains the elements that the census taker had been asked to collate. Many other aspects of life may have existed but were just not recorded. Just because something was not mentioned eg: a church – does not mean that it did not exist. It was just not part of the census taker’s remit.
Information on these two subjects has yet to be loaded so please keep checking the site.
