Bullingdon 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 de ...

in the county of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, covering an area to the east of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. It took its name from the hamlet of Bullingdon Green, in the parish of

Horspath Horspath is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about east of the centre of Oxford, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,378. Archaeology The parish's western boundary largely follows the course of a Rom ...

(just north of the modern Horspath Sports Ground), where the

hundred court A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek, C ...

originally met. 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 manusc ...

of 1096 describes the many parishes of Bullingdon hundred as being dependencies of the royal manor of Headington.Open Domesday: Headington Hundred.
Accessed 25 November 2022. The hundred included:
Cowley, Nuneham (Courtenay),

Cuddesdon Cuddesdon is a mainly rural village in South Oxfordshire centred ESE of Oxford. It has the largest Church of England clergy training centre, Ripon College Cuddesdon. Residents number approximately 430 in Cuddesdon's nucleated village centre a ...

Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. Th ...

, Ambrosden, Stanton (St John), Merton, Elsfield,

Garsington Garsington is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire. "A History of the County of Oxfordshire" provides a detailed history of the parish from 1082. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,689. The vi ...

, Iffley, Waterperry, Beckley, Holywell, the Baldons – (including (Little) Baldon, (Marsh) Baldon and (Toot) Baldon), Piddington, Oxford, Sandford (-on-Thames), Holton,

, (Wood) Eaton, Walton, Thomley, Woodperry, (Lower and Upper) Arncott, Forest Hill, Chippinghurst,

Shotover Shotover is a hill and forest in Oxfordshire, England. The hill is east of Oxford. Its highest point is above sea level. Early history The toponym may be derived from the Old English , meaning "steep slope". Shotover was part of the Wychwood ...

, Stowford, and Wheatley. For over one thousand years, reigning monarchs used portions of the royal manor of Headington to reward families or individuals, so Bullingdon hundred and additional regions included in the manor are well documented. The ultimate authority of the current monarch over the royal manor of Headington was important to maintain, because of its historic attachment to previous rulers of Britain dating back to Roman rule and even earlier. Bullingdon was often described as a double hundred, with a second hundred court meeting in the northern section of the hundred at ''Shotteslawa'' (Scēot's tumulus) – past the hundred boundary of later times in the neighbouring township of Ambrosden. The original site of the northerly hundred court has been assumed to be modern Mount Pleasant and the ancient Graven Hill. Shotteslawa is no longer mentioned after the reign of

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

(d. 1199).Liberties & Communities in Medieval England
By Helen M. Cam. Publ. 1944, reprint 2014. Accessed 25 November 2022. As the City of Oxford grew in population, a portion of Bullingdon hundred became known as North Gate hundred, first mentioned in the eyre of 1247. From

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

's reign (1135-54) until at least 1281, the soke of the manor of Headington was described as the double hundred of Bullington and Northgate. The area considered as within Northgate decreased over the following centuries. The

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

of 1348-50 killed nearly half the population of England and became endemic, recurring in 1361–62, 1369, 1379–83 and 1389–93. Bullingdon Hundred was depopulated. The Headington Court Roll of 1388 describes actions in the manor of Headington which included incidences in Bullingdon. A 7 Henry VI (1428-1429) Hundred Court Roll from Bullington is in the Oxfordshire archives. Bullington Hundred was of continuing importance during the 17th century. Hundreds gradually lost their administrative importance, especially through the nineteenth century. Whilst the hundreds were never formally abolished, they had no administrative functions after 1886 and were therefore effectively abandoned. The Bullingdon name was reused for the

Bullingdon Rural District Bullingdon Rural District was a rural district in Oxfordshire, England from 1932 to 1974, covering an area to the south-east of the city of Oxford. The district was created on 1 April 1932 under a County Review Order, as a merger of Wheatley ...

which was created in 1932. That district covered an area to the east and south-east of Oxford which was similar, but not identical, to the former hundred. Bullingdon Rural District was abolished in 1974, becoming part of

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The a ...

. The name lives on in the form of

HM Prison Bullingdon HM Prison and Young Offenders Institute Bullingdon is a prison in Oxfordshire, England. It is a public sector prison operated by HM Prison and Probation Service (an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice). Located near MoD Bicester, it is ...

, a Category B/C prison in the village of

Arncott Arncott or Arncot is a village and civil parish about southeast of Bicester in Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,738. There are two neighbourhoods: Lower and Upper Arncott. Upper Arncott is the larger neighbo ...

in Oxfordshire. Bullingdon Hundred is a past location of the annual

Bullingdon Club The Bullingdon Club is a private all-male dining club for Oxford University students. It is known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants and students' rooms. The club is known to select it ...

point-to-point race.

References

Hundreds of Oxfordshire {{oxfordshire-geo-stub