Langley and Swinehead was an ancient hundred of Gloucestershire, England. Hundreds originated in the late

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

period as a subdivision of a county and lasted as administrative divisions until the 19th century. Langley and Swinehead was divided into two divisions - Upper and Lower - the Upper division comprised the four ancient parishes of Bitton,

Doynton Doynton is a village in South Gloucestershire, England. The population of this village taken at the 2011 census was 320. Setting Doynton is a village situated on the lower slopes of the Cotswolds, approximately two miles south-east of Pucklec ...

, Frampton-Cotterell and Winterbourne and part of the parish of Alveston. The Lower division comprised the three ancient parishes of Littleton-upon-Severn, Olveston and

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

, the remainder of Alveston and part of the parish of Almondsbury.The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland
, 1868, via GENUKI At the time of the Domesday Book Langley and Swineshead were listed as two separate hundreds; Langley also included the parish of Thornbury - later a hundred of its own - and Swineshead included both the city of Bristol and what later became the Barton Regis Hundred. Langley Hundred, on the west, comprised places within seven parishes: * Alveston * Frampton Cotterell * Littleton-upon-Severn * Olveston * Rockhampton * Thornbury * Almondsbury - Gaunts Earthcott and Tockington Swineshead, on the east, comprised places within Bristol (Bristol and Blacksworth), the later Barton Regis Hundred (Barton, Clifton, Mangotsfield and Ridgeway) and four other parishes: * Bitton - Bitton, Oldland and Hanham * Winterbourne - Winterbourne, Hambrook and Sturden * Stoke Gifford (later in Henbury Hundred) *

Wapley Wapley is a rural village in South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Pa ...

(later in Grumbold's Ash Hundred) Doynton was part of Pucklechurch Hundred at the time of the Domesday book. The name Langley is derived from ''lang lēah'' (long clearing), the place believed to be in Alveston parish where the hundred court met. 'Swineshead' came from ''swīn hēafod'' (pigs hill), a place near

Swineford Swineford is a hamlet in the South Gloucestershire council area, very close to the boundary with Bath and North East Somerset. It is located around 1 km south-east of Bitton, and lies on the River Avon, on which the Swineford Lock is sited. ...

, Bitton parish where that hundred court met. It's unclear when the hundreds of Langley and Swineshead were combined: the hundreds were still listed separately in 1395 and the combined hundred was reported from, at the latest, 1602.

References

{{Hundreds of Gloucestershire Hundreds of Gloucestershire History of Bristol