Hayridge Hundred


Feniton is in Hayridge Hundred.

Hayridge hundred was originally known as Silverton Hundred – can’t find when it changed or why it was called Hayridge.

A Hundred is subdivision of a English Shire first noted in the 10th century and survived as a unit of local government until the 19th century. The origin of the name is Anglo Saxon for an area comprising of around 100 geld hides (this was a basic Anglo Saxon land unit for taxation prurposes). The origin is probably Germanic meaning 100 warriors or households. One hundred geld hides approximated to about 12000 acres or 18.75 square miles. The hundreds varied in size and the makeup of the parishes in each hundred continually changed. Each hundred had its own court which met regularly every four weeks until the 13th century by which time local lords had taken them over and they gradually lost importance from the 16th century onwards. The court was made up of Tythingmen from each of the parishes or Tything groups in the hundred. They had responsibility for crimes committed by members and jurisdiction over pleas of debt and trespass. In northern counties the equivalent to a hundred was known as a Wapentake – from the Norse word for the same unit.

Notes and details of the freeholders and attendees at Hayridge Hundred courts for the 17th and 18th centuries are held in the DRO – some have been transcribed by the Friends of the Record Office and are online. [Geoff]

2 comments:

  1. I too am puzzling over this one. The name changed between the Geldroll of 1084 and two centuries later in the Hundred roll of Edward I.
    More can be found in Reichel, Trans Dev Assoc XLII 1910 online at https://archive.org/details/reportandtransa17artgoog and https://archive.org/details/reportandtransa18artgoog
    There are several puzzling issues with this. It is claimed that the new name is from the hundred courts held at what is now Whoridge farm but this does not appear on a couple of the 18th century maps and is called Stone Farm on the first edition OS map.

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    1. Thank you Nick for your comment, and the web links. Very useful.

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