The Hundred of Wellow 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 ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England, dating from before the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

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 Frankpledge was a system of joint suretyship common in England throughout the Early Middle Ages and High Middle Ages. The essential characteristic was the compulsory sharing of responsibility among persons connected in tithings. This unit, under ...

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 Wellow consisted of the ancient parishes of: Camerton, Charterhouse Hinton,

Combe Hay Combe Hay is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English Ceremonial Counties, county of Somerset. It falls within the Cotswolds, Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The parish has a population of 147. ...

, Corston, Dunkerton,

Englishcombe Englishcombe is a village and civil parish in Bath and North East Somerset just south-west of Bath, England. The parish, which also includes the hamlets of Inglesbatch and Nailwell, had a population of 318 at the 2011 census. History A neolithi ...

Farleigh Hungerford Farleigh Hungerford () is a village within the civil parish of Norton St Philip in the Mendip District, Mendip district, in Somerset, England, 9 miles southeast of Bath, Somerset, Bath, 3½ miles west of Trowbridge on A366 road, A366, between Trow ...

, Foxcote,

Newton St Loe Newton St Loe is a small Somerset village and civil parish located close to the villages of Corston and Stanton Prior, between Bath and Bristol in England. The majority of the village is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. The parish has a populati ...

Norton St Philip Norton St Philip is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The village lies about south of the city of Bath and north of the town of Frome on the eastern slopes of the Mendip Hills. It is situated on the A366 b ...

Tellisford Tellisford is a village and civil parish north-east of Frome in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Woolverton. History The village was known as ''Tefleford'' in 1001 and ''Tablesford'' in 1086 meaning ...

Twerton Twerton is a suburb of the city of Bath, Somerset, Bath, Somerset, England, situated to the west of the city, and home to the city's association football, football club, Bath City F.C., Bath City. Twerton is served by bus route 5, operated by Fi ...

and Wellow. It covered an area of . 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 district Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...

s, and

highway district {{short description, Type of district in England and Wales Highway Districts were areas in England and Wales united for the maintenance and repair of highways. They were first formed in 1862 and consisted of groupings of civil parishes in rural area ...

s 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 The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...

References

{{Use British English, date=September 2020 Hundreds of Somerset