Axstane was a
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
in the
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The Hundred of Axstane lay south-east of Dartford and Wilmington Hundred. It is called Achestan in Domesday Book, but by the reign of Edward I it was called Axstane.
Its name has been interpreted as referring to an oak bearing stony land, or alternatively a reference to the personal name Acca.
In the time of Edward I, the King and the
Archbishop of Canterbury were then its
lords paramount. In the 20th year of the reign of Edward III (1347, just before the
Black Death) this hundred answered for a total of 14.725 knights' fees.
Alternative spellings: Achestan (as above), Axston, Axstone, Axtane, Axton
[Hundred of Axton in John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales,1870-72]
The hundred included the parishes of
*
Ash
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
*
Darenth
Darenth is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles south east of Dartford and 4.6 miles north east of Swanley.
History
The parish was part of Axstane Hundred and later Dartford Rural Dis ...
*
Eynsford
*
Farningham
Farningham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located south-east of Swanley.
It has a population of 1,314.
History
Farningham is believed to be home to Neolithic history – flint and other tools ha ...
*
Fawkham
Fawkham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. Fawkham is defined as a hamlet by Sevenoaks District Council, with a population of 429. Fawkham is a low density, linear settlement along the bottom of a dry chalk ...
*
Hartley
*
Horton Kirby
Horton Kirby is a village in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.9 miles east of Swanley & 4.9 miles south of Dartford. Together with the nearby village of South Darenth, it forms the Horton Kirby and South Darenth civil p ...
*
Longfield
Longfield is a village in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located 6 miles south east of Dartford and the same distance south-west of Gravesend.
History
The place in Kent is recorded as ''Langanfelda'' in the Saxon Charters of ...
*
Lullingstone
Lullingstone is a village in the county of Kent, England. It is best known for its castle, Roman villa and its public golf course.
Lullingstone was a civil parish until 1955, when it was annexed to Eynsford. The parish was in Axstane Hundred a ...
*
Ridley
*
Southfleet
Southfleet is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Dartford in Kent, England. The village is located three miles southwest of Gravesend, while the parish includes within its boundaries the hamlets of Betsham and Westwood.
Southfle ...
*
Stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
*
Swanscombe
*
Sutton-at-Hone
*
Kingsdown
The Hundred of Dartford and Wilmington did not exist at the time of the Norman Conquest, and the parishes of
Dartford and
Wilmington were accounted as part of Axstane in Domesday Book.
[See The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 1, author:Edward Hasted, publ. 1797]
The importance of the hundred courts declined from the 17th century, and most of their powers were extinguished with the establishment of county courts in 1867. In 1894 the Hundred was succeeded by
Dartford Rural District
Dartford Rural District was a rural district with an area of in the county of Kent, England. In 1971 it had a population of 64,561 and an electorate of 43,911. At dissolution it was the most populous rural district council in Kent, but had o ...
, which was then created out of the same parishes, with the addition of Wilmington and
Crayford.
Dartford Poor Law Union
Dartford Poor Law Union was formed on 19 May 1836, covering roughly the same area as the Hundred of Axstane. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 24 in number, representing the following 21 constituent parishes (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):
Ash, Bexley (2), Crayford (2), Darenth, Dartford (2), Eynsford, Erith, Farningham, Fawkham, Hartley, Horton Kirby, Kingsdown, Longfield, Lullingstone, Ridley, Southfleet, Stone, Sutton-at-Hone, Swanscombe, East Wickham, Wilmington.
The area was 34,139 acres (138 km
2). Population in 1851: 9,869; Houses: 1,852.
The population by parish was as follows:
[Victoria County History of Kent Vol 3, p. 367, publ.1932, ed William Page, ]
The Hundred of Axstane belonged to the
Lathe of Sutton at Hone
The Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone historically included a large part of Kent: the present-day boroughs of Dartford, Bexley, Greenwich, Bromley, Lewisham, Sevenoaks District and small parts of the Borough of Tonbridge and Malling and Borough of Tunbr ...
.
Notes
{{reflist
Borough of Dartford
Hundreds of Kent