Somerden was a

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 ...

, a historical land division, in the county of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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 ...

. It occupied the southwest corner of Kent, in the southern 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 in the west division of Kent. The hundred was one of the last to be created in Kent, unlike the majority of Kent hundreds, it was not formally constituted 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 ...

of 1086, but came into being sometime after. Today the area is mostly rural and located in the southern part of the

Sevenoaks District Sevenoaks is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in west Kent, England. Its council is based in the town of Sevenoaks. The district was Local Government Act 1972, formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Sevenoaks Urban District ...

, south of

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

and west of

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

. Somerden Hundred was approximately wide east to west, and long north to south, and had a small

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

about out from its south east corner. In the 1831 census Somerden was recorded as having an area of . The population in that census was recorded as 3,924,Hundred of Somerden 1831 census population information
"Somerden population 3,924 in 1831" at ''A Vision of Britain Through Time'' of which 2,078 were male and 1,846 were female,Hundred of Somerden 1831 census population information
"Somerden population 2,078 male and 1,846 female in 1831" at ''A Vision of Britain Through Time'' who belonged to 734 families living in 567 houses. In the later years of its existence the

Oxted Line The Oxted line is a railway in southern England and part of the Southern franchise. The railway splits into two branches towards the south and has direct trains throughout to London termini. It was opened jointly by the London, Brighton and ...

and

Redhill to Tonbridge Line Redhill may refer to: Places England * Redhill, Bournemouth, Dorset * Redhill, Herefordshire, a location * Redhill, Nottinghamshire * Redhill, Hook-a-Gate, Shropshire * Redhill, Sheriffhales, Shropshire * Redhill, Telford, a location in Shropsh ...

railway lines were constructed through the hundred. Somerden, 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. The majority of Somerden became part of the

Sevenoaks Rural District Sevenoaks Rural District was a rural district in the county of Kent, England, from 1894 to 1974. It did not include Sevenoaks Urban District, which covered the town of Sevenoaks. It was created in 1894 from the majority of the area of Somerden Hu ...

in 1894, which in turn merged with 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 ...

in 1974 to become the

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 were

Cowden Cowden () is a small village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the northern slopes of the Weald, south-west of Tonbridge. The old High Street has Grade II listed cottages and village houses, ...

, and

Penhurst Penhurst is a village and civil parish, sharing a parish council with neighbouring Ashburnham, in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located on the Weald, 4 miles (7km) west of Battle. The parish touches Ashburnham, Battle, Brig ...

, and parts of

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 ...

, Hever,

Chiddingstone Chiddingstone is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the River Eden between Tonbridge and Edenbridge. The village of Chiddingstone Causeway and the hamlet Chiddingstone Hoath are also ...

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 ...

, Edinbridge. and

Chevening Chevening House () is a large country house in the parish of Chevening in Kent, in Southeast England. Built between 1617 and 1630 to a design reputedly by Inigo Jones and greatly extended after 1717, it is a Grade I listed building. The surround ...

F. Youngs, Local Administrative Units: Southern England (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979) pp 266-290Edward 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'' Only Cowden, and Penhurst were always recorded as being completely within Somerden, the other parishes had parts in Somerden and parts in other hundreds. Somerden existed for several centuries, the borders of the parishes or which hundred they were considered a part of, changed slightly over the years of its existence, not all censuses and other sources list the same parishes. The

Hundred of Codsheath Codsheath was a hundred, a historical land division, in the county of Kent, England. It occupied the eastern part of the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone,An Historical Atlas of Kent, edited by Terence Lawrence & David Killingray (2004) - Maps front cover ...

, to the north of Somerden, was sometimes recorded as including parts of the Leigh parish.Hundred of Codsheath parishes
(Edward Hasted, "The hundred of Codsheath: Introduction", in ''The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3'' (Canterbury, 1797), pp. 1-2. posted at ''British history Online'' The parishes of Hever, Chiddingstone were in the geographic area of Somerden and mostly within the hundred, but parts of those parishes were also sometimes recorded as belonging to the hundreds of Codsheath and

Ruxley Ruxley is a small settlement in southeast London, England, with no present formal boundaries. It is located southeast by east of Charing Cross,Nicholson Greater London Street Atlas Comprehensive Edition p.186 (2003) shows borough district b ...

to the north in exclaves of those hundreds. Somerden was also recorded to have an exclave of its own to the east, containing part of the parish of Spelhurst, which was in the geographic area of the Wachlingstone hundred which the other part the parish belonged to. The parish in the northwest of Somerden, was Edinbridge and was recorded as partly belonging to the Somerden Hundred, and partly belonging to a smaller hundred named, Westerham and Edinbridge.

, the northernmost parish of the hundred, was sometimes recorded as part of Somerden like in the 1831 census, but was also recorded at other times as belonging to the Codsheath Hundred. The parish churches of Hever, Cowden, Chiddingstone, Penhurst, Leigh and Speldhurst were within the Somerden Hundred, but the parish churches of Chevening and Eatonbridge were within other hundreds.

References

{{Coord, 51.183, N, 0.110, E, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(TQ485704), display=title Hundreds of Kent