The Hundred of Huntspill and Puriton is one of the 40 historical
Hundreds in the
ceremonial county
The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...
of
Somerset, England, dating from before the
Norman conquest during the
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was responsible for the maintenance of the
frankpledge system. They also formed a unit for the collection of taxes. The role of the hundred court was described in the Dooms (laws) of
King Edgar. The name of the hundred was normally that of its meeting-place.
The hundred of Huntspill and Puriton consisted of the ancient parishes of
Huntspill and
Puriton
Puriton is a village and parish at the westerly end of the Polden Hills, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. The parish has a population of 1,968. The local parish church is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. A chapel on Woola ...
, and covered about . At some point Huntspill and Puriton were separate with Huntspill first being called a hundred in 1084.
The importance of the hundred courts declined from the seventeenth century. By the 19th century several different single-purpose subdivisions of counties, such as
poor law unions,
sanitary districts, and
highway districts sprang up, filling the administrative role previously played by parishes and hundreds. Although the Hundreds have never been formally abolished, their functions ended with the establishment of
county court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...
s in 1867 and the introduction of
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
by the
Local Government Act 1894.
References
{{Hundreds of Somerset
Hundreds of Somerset