Codsheath was a hundred, a historical land division, in the county of Kent, England. It occupied the eastern part of the

Lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to c ...

Sutton-at-Hone Sutton-at-Hone is a village in the civil parish of Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located 3.5 miles south of Dartford & 3.6 miles north east of Swanley. History The place-name 'Sutton-at-Hone' is f ...

,An Historical Atlas of Kent, edited by Terence Lawrence & David Killingray (2004) - Maps front cover and back cover inlay within in the west division of Kent. Codsheath was also recorded as "Codsede" in ancient records."The hundred of Codsheath: Introduction"
in ''The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3'' by Edward Hasted (Canterbury, 1797), pp. 1-2. posted at ''British History Online'' Today the area that was the Codsheath Hundred is part of the Sevenoaks District of Kent that includes the town of Sevenoaks and surrounding area.Nicholson Greater London Street Atlas Comprehensive Edition (2003) shows present district boundaries The Hundred of Codsheath was included in the Domesday Book of 1086, that records it as having 203 houses, 44 in Sundridge and 159 in Otford.Hundred of Codsheath
in ''The Domesday Book'' (1086). posted at ''Opendomesday.org'' The River Darent flowed through the Codsheath Hundred, generally in a northeast direction. Several watermills were constructed on the river within the hundred, in the villages of Sundridge, Otford, Shoreham and Chevening. In the 1831 census, Codsheath was recorded as having an area of and a population of 12,709, of which 6,394 were female, 6,315 were male,Kent Hundreds population information
''1831 census'' posted at www.visionofbritain.org.uk and 3,239 were males aged 20 and over.Kent Hundreds population information
''1831 census'' posted at www.visionofbritain.org.uk The same census recorded the population as belonging to 2,437 families living in 2,211 houses,Kent Hundreds population information
''1831 census'' posted at www.visionofbritain.org.uk and that 1,295 of these families worked in agriculture, and 649 families worked in trade, manufacturing, or handicraft. Codsheath, like the other hundreds in Kent, became less significant gradually over time, and although never formally abolished, it was obsolete by 1894 with the creation of new districts. In 1894 the area of the Codsheath Hundred became the

Sevenoaks Urban District Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the tradition ...

and part of Sevenoaks Rural District, which in turn merged with each other in 1974 to become the Sevenoaks District which remains up to present day.

Parishes

Parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

that were recorded as being in the Hundred of Codsheath were Shoreham, Halstead, Otford,

Kemsing Kemsing is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. The parish lies on the scarp face of the North Downs, 20 miles south east of Central London, north east of Sevenoaks. Also in the parish are the hamlets of Heave ...

, Seale, Sevenoaks, and Sundridge, and also parts of Chevening,

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

Speldhurst Speldhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish is to the west of Tunbridge Wells: the village is west of the town. Speldhurst has a primary school, a parish church, a general store with p ...

, and Woodland in Kingsdown/West Kingsdown, which also had parts in other hundreds; and also two other parishes that there sometimes, partly recorded as belonging to the Codsheath hundred,

Brasted Brasted is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. Brasted lies on the A25 road, between Sundridge and Westerham; the road is named Westerham Road, High Street and Main Road as it passes through the village east to ...

to the west, which later became a hundred of its own and Bexley, in an exclave to the north which had also been recorded as belonging to the Hundred of Ruxley.Hundred of Helmstrei (Ruxley) parishes in the Domesdaybook (1086)
posted at pendomesday.orgBexley parish information
F. Youngs, ''Local Administrative Units: Southern England'' (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979), p. 260, posted at www.visionofbritain.org.uk In 1797 the parish churches of Shoreham, Halstead, Otford, Kemsing, Seal, Sevenoaks, Chevening, Sundridge and Woodland in Kingsdown were recorded as belonging to the Codsheath Hundred and the churches of Leigh and Speldhurst to the

Somerden Hundred Somerden was a hundred, a historical land division, in the county of Kent, England. It occupied the southwest corner of Kent, in the southern part of the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone,An Historical Atlas of Kent, edited by Terence Lawrence & David Ki ...

to the south.Edward Hasted, "The hundred of Somerden: Introduction"
in ''The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3'' (Canterbury, 1797), pp. 189-190. posted at ''British History Online''

Boundaries and neighbours

The Hundred of Codsheath was approximately 10 miles long north to south, and 8 miles wide east to west,A Map of the Hundred of Codsheath by Edward Hasted published, canterbury, 1778
posted at www.davidmilesbooks.com occupying the central and eastern area of 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 ...

. Codsheath Hundred bordered six other hundreds, four in the Sutton-at-Hone Lathe, and two of the Aylesford Lathe to the east. Hundreds that bordered Codsheath were

Somerden Somerden was a hundred, a historical land division, in the county of Kent, England. It occupied the southwest corner of Kent, in the southern part of the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone,An Historical Atlas of Kent, edited by Terence Lawrence & David ...

to the south, the small hundred of

to the west, the

Hundred of Ruxley Ruxley (previously Rokesley, and in the Domesday Book Helmestrei) was an ancient hundred, a land division in the north west of the county of Kent, England. Its area has been mostly absorbed by the growth of London; with its name currently referr ...

to the northwest,

Axstane Hundred Axstane was a hundred in the county of Kent, England. 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 interpr ...

to the northeast, all within the Sutton-at-Hone; and the Aylesford hundreds of Wrothham to the east, and Lowy of Tunbridge to the southeast. Before Brasted became its own hundred, it was a parish of Codsheath, at this time the western boundary of Codsheath Hundred would have been with the Westerham and Edinbridge Hundred, also in the Sutton-at-Hone Lathe.

References

{{Reflist Hundreds of Kent