Blything 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 ...

of eastern Suffolk, and with an area of was the largest of Suffolk's 21 hundreds. The origins of the hundred centre on the ancient royal estate of

Blythburgh Blythburgh is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is west of Southwold and south-east of Halesworth and lies on the River Blyth. The A12 road runs through the village which is split ...

, whose hall housed the hundred's central meeting place. Listed as ''Blidinga'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

, the hundred's name means "the people of the Blyth" a subgroup of the

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...

who populated the valleys of the River Blyth; the hundred corresponds closely to the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the River Blyth together with other minor rivers. The name "Blyth" itself means 'blithe' or 'pleasant' and shares its name with a river in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, and one in Northumberland.

Parishes

Blything Hundred consisted of the following parishes:1841 Census

References

External links

Blything Hundred: A study in the Development of Settlement, 400-1400 ADBlything Hundred wiki
{{Authority control Hundreds of Suffolk