Copthorne Hundred

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Copthorne was a hundred of Surrey, England, an area above the level of the parishes and manors, where the local wise, wealthy and powerful met periodically in Anglo-Saxon England for strategic purposes. [1] After the Norman Conquest the lords of the manor took to annual hundred meetings and their status became eroded by royal-approved transactions of land, as meanwhile the manorial courts and moreover royal courts seized jurisdiction over the Hundred Courts. [2]

Contents

The name Copthorne may derive from a pollarded thorn tree at the place where the hundred met. The meeting point has been suggested to be marked by an earthwork and ancient hedge at the southern end of Woodcote Park, Epsom, close to Langley Vale. The earthwork is denoted as the Nutshambles on a map of Ashtead dating from 1638. [3]

Scope

Copthorne comprised the manors of Ashtead, Burgh, Cuddington, Epsom, Ewell, Fetcham, Headley, Leatherhead, Mickleham, Pachevesham (within Leatherhead parish), Tadworth, Thorncroft and Walton-on-the-Hill. [4] It had two enclaves, areas of other parishes dominated by manors and sometimes churches within it: in Weybridge and Newdigate. [2]

In the Domesday Book , the settlements of Ashtead, Fetcham and Mickleham were included in the Wallington (hundred); but the county historians cited by the Victoria County History of 1911 as having examined the Patent Rolls and similar state collections of deeds, royal letters and documents, such as Owen Manning and John Aubrey, agree that this was a mistake. [5]

In present terms Epsom, Leatherhead and Ewell are almost uniformly called towns: for example at the county level of local government when it considers service provision and population analysis [6] — the first two were granted market town status in the Middle Ages. [2]

The Victoria County History, based on ecclesiastical records, states that these were its parishes:

Ownership and late transactions

Surrey hundreds.svg

Copthorne was a royal hundred (to the extent its overarching overlordship affected the manors and common land)[ clarification needed ], and remained in the hands of the Crown, though James I of England leased it for 21 years to Thomas Jenkins in 1617.

In a subsidy roll of the 14th century it was said to be worth £47 15s. 6¼d. and with Effingham Hundred the various land units within it were assessed in total for ship money at £136 16s. 4d. at the third such levy in 1636. [2]

Magistrates / District Judge (Magistrates Court) geographical division

It was used as the Epsom Petty sessional division. [7]

Contribution to constituencies

The area was an eastward projection of the West Surrey (UK Parliament constituency) an 1832-1885 dual-member (MP) area. [8] With minor additions from Kingston, Effingham and Dorking Hundred it was then used for that of Epsom. Its northern bulk mirrors Epsom and Ewell the smaller modern successor.

Domesday survey

Copthorne appears in the Book as Copededorne. Copthorne was a hundred (these are not in the Domesday Book's map of the county, which focuses on the main unit, manors). [2]

Related Research Articles

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Leatherhead Human settlement in England

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Epsom Town in Surrey, England

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Fetcham Human settlement in England

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Ewell Human settlement in England

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Newdigate Human settlement in England

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Westhumble Village in Surrey, England

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Kingswood, Surrey Human settlement in England

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Langley Vale is a village in the Borough of Epsom and Ewell, in Surrey, England, approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of central London. As its name suggests, the village is in a dry valley between Epsom Downs and Walton Downs. Historically part of the Ashtead Park estate, Langley Vale was the location of a farm in Medieval times. The modern village began to develop in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Headley, Surrey Human settlement in England

Headley is a village and civil parish in the North Downs in Surrey, England. The nearest settlements are, to the west, Mickleham and Leatherhead; to the north, Ashtead and Langley Vale; to the east, Walton-on-the-Hill; and to the south, Box Hill. It is just outside the M25 motorway encircling London.

West Surrey (UK Parliament constituency)

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Effingham Hundred

Effingham Hundred or the Hundred of Effingham was a hundred but often treated as a half-hundred with that of Copthorne and was the smallest in Surrey, England.

Cuddington was a village in Surrey which was demolished to make way for Henry VIII's Nonsuch Palace near Cheam. Cuddington lay within the Copthorne hundred. There remains a small rise of land to mark the northern side of the old Cuddington parish church.

References

  1. ↑ Surrey Domesday Book Archived December 23, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 H.E. Malden, ed. (1911). "The hundred of Copthorne: Introduction and map". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  3. ↑ Nail, Dorothy (1965). "The meeting place of Copthorne Hundred" (PDF). Surrey Archaeological Collections. 62: 44–53. doi:10.5284/1068944. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  4. ↑ "Epsom & Ewell History Explorer". www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk.
  5. ↑ H.E. Malden, ed. (1912). "The hundred of Wallington: Introduction and map". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  6. ↑ "Surrey County Council census data" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  7. ↑ "Victorian London - Directories - Dickens's Dictionary of London, by Charles Dickens, Jr., 1879 - "Petty Sessional Divisions"". www.victorianlondon.org.
  8. ↑ Reform Act 1884, Schedule D: Counties to be divided

Coordinates: 51°18′N0°15′W / 51.30°N 0.25°W / 51.30; -0.25

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