Hormer was an ancient

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 ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, England. It consisted of the area immediately west 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 ...

within the bend of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

, all of which was transferred to

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 ...

on 1 April 1974 in accordance with the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. It included the ancient parishes of * Abingdon *

Besselsleigh Besselsleigh or Bessels Leigh is an English village and civil parish about southwest of Oxford. Besselsleigh was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is just off the A420 road between O ...

Cumnor Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3½ miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon. The parish includes Cumnor ...

North Hinksey North Hinksey is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, immediately west of Oxford. The civil parish includes the large settlement of Botley, effectively a suburb of Oxford. North Hinksey was part of Berkshire until the 1974 bo ...

South Hinksey South Hinksey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish just over south of the centre of Oxford. The parish includes the residential area of Hinksey Hill about south of the village. The parish was part of Berkshire until the Loc ...

Radley Radley is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish about northeast of the centre of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Abingdon, Oxfordshire. The parish includes the Hamlet (place), hamlet of Lower Radley on the River Thames. It was part of B ...

Seacourt Seacourt is a deserted medieval village ( DMV ) near the City of Oxford. The site is now mostly beneath the Oxford Western By-pass ( A34 ), about south of the Seacourt / Hinksey Stream crossing. Name The earliest known refere ...

Sunningwell Sunningwell is a village and civil parish about south of Oxford, England. The parish includes the village of Bayworth and the eastern part of Boars Hill. The parish was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxford ...

* Wootton *

Wytham Wytham ( ) is a village and civil parish on the Seacourt Stream, a branch of the River Thames, about northwest of the centre of Oxford. It is just west of the Western By-Pass Road, part of the Oxford Ring Road ( A34). The nearest village is G ...

* St. Helen (part) The hundred also included the almost uninhabited

extra-parochial area In England and Wales, an extra-parochial area, extra-parochial place or extra-parochial district was a geographically defined area considered to be outside any ecclesiastical or civil parish. Anomalies in the parochial system meant they had no chu ...

Bagley Wood Bagley Wood is a wood in the parish of Kennington between Oxford and Abingdon in Oxfordshire, England (in Berkshire until 1974). It is traversed from north to south by the A34 road, which was rerouted through the wood in 1972. History Bagley W ...

, which became a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in 1858 and was joined to Radley in 1900. The name of the hundred is derived from what was presumably its original meeting place, an unidentified ''Horningamere'' "pool of the Hornings". The Hornings were the people who lived in the "horn", the angle of land in Berkshire enclosed by the bend of the Thames. The hundred came into existence before the time of 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, when it had the same area except for the parish of Besselsleigh, which joined the hundred by 1321. In 1086 the entire hundred belonged to

Abingdon Abbey Abingdon Abbey ( '' " St Mary's Abbey " '' ) was a Benedictine monastery located in the centre of Abingdon-on-Thames beside the River Thames. The abbey was founded c.675 AD in honour of The Virgin Mary. The Domesday Book of 1086 informs ...

. The court of the hundred met at Bagley Wood, and later at Cumnor.

References

External links

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Hundreds of Berkshire History of Oxfordshire {{Berkshire-geo-stub