Whorwellsdown 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 ...
of the English county of
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, lying in the west of the county to the south of the towns of
Bradford on Avon
Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...
and
Melksham
Melksham () is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, the Melksham built-up area had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire's fifth-largest settlement af ...
and to the north and east of
Westbury. An arm of the hundred reached several miles southwards into
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...
, with a detached portion, a
tithing
A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...
of Tilshead, lying high on the Plain about five miles east of the southern arm of the rest of the hundred. At its western end, it reached as far as the
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_ ...
county boundary.
[
]
Extent
At 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 ...
(1086), the hundred contained Romsey Abbey
Romsey Abbey is the name currently given to a parish church of the Church of England in Romsey, a market town in Hampshire, England. Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was the church of a Benedictine Order, Benedictine nunnery. The surv ...
's manors of Steeple Ashton
Steeple Ashton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, east of Trowbridge.
In the north of the parish are the hamlets of Ashton Common and Bullenhill.
Name and history
Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Steeple Ashton w ...
and Edington Eddington or Edington may refer to:
People
*Eddington Varmah, Liberian politician
*Eddington (surname), people with the surname
Places
Australia
* Eddington, Victoria
United Kingdom
* Eddington, Berkshire
* Eddington, Cambridge
* Ed ...
, together with other estates at Edington, Coulston
Coulston (until 1934 called East Coulston) is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, five miles northeast of the town of Westbury, just north of the B3098 road. The village lies under the north slope of Salisbury Plain and the parish ...
, Keevil
Keevil is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about east of the centre of Trowbridge and a similar distance south of Melksham. The village lies on a slope between Great Hinton and Bulkington. Semington Brook forms much of the n ...
, and Tilshead
Tilshead () is a village and civil parish in the county of Wiltshire in Southern England, about northwest of the town of Amesbury. It is close to the geographical centre of Salisbury Plain, on the A360 road approximately midway between the ...
. Steeple Ashton then included West Ashton
West Ashton is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is about southeast of Trowbridge, near the A350 between Melksham and Yarnbrook which bypasses Trowbridge. The parish includes the hamlets of Dunge (), East Town () and Rood As ...
, North Bradley
North Bradley is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, between Trowbridge and Westbury. The village is about south of Trowbridge town centre. The parish includes most of the village of Yarnbrook, and the hamlets of Brokerswood, Cu ...
and Southwick.['The Hundred of Whorwellsdown', in ''A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 8: Warminster, Westbury and Whorwellsdown Hundreds'' (1965)]
pp. 193–197
online at british-history.ac.uk
In 1831, the hundred included Steeple Ashton (with West Ashton), North Bradley, East Coulston
Coulston (until 1934 called East Coulston) is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, five miles northeast of the town of Westbury, just north of the B3098 road. The village lies under the north slope of Salisbury Plain and the parish ...
, Edington, Keevil, and the tithing
A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...
of South Tilshead.[
]
Lordship
The lordship of the hundred may have been included in King Edgar's grant of Steeple Ashton to Romsey Abbey, as in the 13th century the abbesses of Romsey claimed they held it by a gift of Edgar. However, King Henry I granted the hundred to the abbey subject to an annual rent of forty shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
s to the sheriff of Wiltshire
This is a list of the Sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) High Sheriffs of Wiltshire.
Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held '' ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle.
On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Go ...
, a grant later confirmed by King Stephen, so it is also possible that the first grant to the Abbey was by Henry I. The hundred and the holding of its court remained with the abbey until 1538, when the Dissolution of the Monasteries intervened and they passed to the Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
. In 1547, the hundred was granted to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (150022 January 1552) (also 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp), also known as Edward Semel, was the eldest surviving brother of Queen Jane Seymour (d. 1537), the third wife of King Henry VI ...
. Following his attainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditar ...
, the hundred returned to the Crown, and in 1565 it was granted to Humphrey Skelton and Nicholas Holbourne. By the end of the 16th century it was in the ownership of the Paulets, lords of the Edington manor of Edington Romsey.[
Apart from their privileges in the hundred's courts, the lords of the hundred also had a number of rights in woods and ]commons
The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...
.[
]
Hundred court
The earliest surviving records of proceedings in the hundred court date from 1261 and 1262. Matters presented by each of the tithing
A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or s ...
s include hue and cry
In common law, a hue and cry is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime.
History
By the Statute of Winchester of 1285, 13 Edw. I statute 2. c ...
, bloodshed, and disputes between parties about such matters as debt
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
and breach of contract
Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...
. In the 13th century, the abbesses of Romsey held a hundred court every three weeks, but between 1412 and 1538, when the final abbess's court was held, there was a great decline in business. The court continued to be held by later owners. By the end of the 16th century the two constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
s for the hundred were appointed by the Quarter Sessions
The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...
, and Tithingmen were still appearing to make their presentments in the 18th century.[
When the hundred court was granted to Romsey Abbey by Henry I, he granted "all pleas belonging to it". However, what belonged to the court was uncertain. In 1233 litigation ensued between the Abbey and Ela, Countess of Salisbury, the sheriff, over the extent of the Abbey's jurisdiction, and the abbess was forced to recognise the sheriff's right to two 'tourns' a year, to include all pleas of the Crown, the view of ]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 ...
, disputes about beasts taken against pledge, and assizes of bread and ale. The abbey thus retained actions for debt, pleas of battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
and medley where there was no allegation of felony
A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
, actions over the injury of cattle and horses, and other matters where there was no king's writ
In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...
. The Abbey later agreed to pay an additional rent to acquire some of the sheriff's rights, so that in 1289 its rent was £4, but the sheriffs continued to hold their two tourns in the hundred court until the 16th century.[
In 1708, the hundred court was held at Tinhead. Apart from Keevil, all the tithings of 1261 were still attending the court in the 18th century.][
]
Origin and survival of the name
Whorwellsdown was originally the name of a low hill near Crosswelldown Farm, at the point where the ancient parishes of Steeple Ashton, Edington, and Bratton meet. Early records show that the hundred court was held there under an oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
or thorn tree.[
The hundred shared a Poor Law Union with neighbouring Westbury, a single Westbury and Whorwellsdown Union ]Workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
being located at Eden Vale, Westbury, with accommodation for some 134 people.
The name of Whorwellsdown remained in everyday use in Wiltshire into the 21st century to mean the wider area of the hundred. From 1872 to 1934 the name was part of that of the Westbury and Whorwellsdown Rural District.['']A History of the County of Wiltshire
The Wiltshire Victoria County History, properly called The Victoria History of the County of Wiltshire but commonly referred to as VCH Wiltshire, is an encyclopaedic history of the county of Wiltshire in England. It forms part of the overall Vic ...
'', vol. iv., p. 338 Up to the 1960s there was also a petty-sessional division called Whorwellsdown. Until the end of Wiltshire County Council
Wiltshire County Council (established in 1889) was the county council of Wiltshire in the South West of England, an elected local Government body responsible for most local government services in the county.
As a result of the 2009 restructur ...
in 2009, one of the council's electoral divisions was called 'Whorwellsdown' or 'Whorwellsdown Hundred'. Despite these continuing uses, by the late 20th century there was no consistency about the local pronunciation of the name.[
]
Notes
External links
The Hundred of Whorwellsdown
at british-history.ac.uk
Map of Whorwellsdown hundred
at british-history.ac.uk
{{Wiltshire
Hundreds of Wiltshire