Edmonton is one of six hundreds (obsolete subdivisions) of the historic county of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

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 ...

. A rotated L-shape, its area has been in the south and east firmly part of the urban growth of London. Since the 1965 formation of London boroughs (see

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

) it mainly corresponds to the London Boroughs of Enfield, a negligible portion of

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

and a narrow majority of Haringey. Its ancient parish of South Mimms (including the later civil parish of Potters Bar) has since 1965 been part of the Hertsmere district in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

History

The hundred's name means 'farm/settlement of Eadhelm'. The hundred was listed 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 manusc ...

in 1086, after which there were only very minor boundary changes. It was sometimes known as the ''Half Hundred of Mimms''. It contained the parishes and settlements of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms and

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

. It bordered Ossulstone hundred to the south west, and had a boundary with

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

to the east. To the north then west it projected into

(containing South Mimms and Monken Hadley) which county had long borders with all of the parishes except for Tottenham. The eastern successors to the three easterly ecclesiastical parishes continue to adjoin

across the (

River Lea The River Lea ( ) is in South East England. It originates in Bedfordshire, in the Chiltern Hills, and flows southeast through Hertfordshire, along the Essex border and into Greater London, to meet the River Thames at Bow Creek. It is one of t ...

) but due to urbanisation the three simple parishes have more

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parishes today. The Hundred Moot appears to have originally been held near Potters Bar. By the seventeenth century the "mote plane" was in an open area of

Enfield Chase Enfield Chase is an area of Enfield that is named for a former royal hunting ground. Much of the former area of the Chase has been developed, but a large part survives between Cockfosters in the west and Enfield in the east as Trent Country ...

. The court for the hundred eventually moved to a public house in Enfield prior to its abolition in 1846. In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888, the area forming the small civil parish of Monken Hadley was transferred to

reflecting the growth of

as a town.

Area and population change

The following is the population of the parishes in Edmonton Hundred as given at each ten-yearly census from 1801 - 1881:

Replacement

The hundreds of England declined in administrative use because of the rise of various ''ad-hoc'' boards and the gradual takeover of all types of jurisdiction by the King's courts, the courts of England and Wales. In the sixteenth century many of the powers of the manorial lords who would convene at the Hundred Court was stripped by placing their taxation powers and responsibilities in the board of each parish, the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

. By 1894 whatever residual significance they had was replaced by a system of uniform local government districts, which were consolidated over time. Hundreds had been used in the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 to define many constituencies but not by the Reform Act 1867 which preferred the Poor Law Unions. As to Edmonton Hundred its constituent parts split in 1965 four ways: three parts contributed to

London boroughs The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at t ...

and one part already constituting Potters Bar Urban District moved to

as its senior local government body which in 1974 united into a wider non-metropolitan district ranking beneath Hertfordshire County Council named Hertsmere.

References

{{Coord, 51.645, -0.060, region:GB-ENF_type:adm1st_dim:10000, display=title Hundreds and divisions of Middlesex History of the London Borough of Barnet History of the London Borough of Enfield History of the London Borough of Haringey History of local government in London (pre-1855)

History

Area and population change

Replacement

See also

Further reading

References