Nearly 180 years ago, a renowned antiquarian and historian in a quest to find Waltheof’s aula wrote "For I hold it certain that the manor of Hallam must have had a vill which bore the same name, and that where the vill of Hallam stood, there was the aula of its Saxon lord." Hunter went on to write "that for the last seven centuries at least there has been no considerable vill of the name of Hallam; nor any distinct knot of houses to which that name belonged, though the vill from which it derived its name [manor of Hallam, Hallamshire], and the aula [Waltheof’s aula] which gave dignity to it, perished at a very remote era."

The manor of Hallam, which later became to be known as Hallamshire, did have a village of the same name, which gave rise to the Hallam family name. This paper brings together the majority of the literature as to the whereabouts of the village of Hallam and the location of Waltheof’s aula. The evidence presented in this paper includes both existing and new evidence, as well as new arguments and interpretation not heretofore seen in the literature. By its preponderance the archaeological and historical evidence going back a thousand years, supported by ancient sagas, medieval charters, ancient maps, topography, toponomy, onomastics, and parallels derived from excavated remains of Anglo-Norman sites, provides proof, even beyond a reasonable doubt, as to where the village of Hallam and the aula of Waltheof actually stood.

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