The Hundred of Elmbridge or Elmbridge/Emley Hundred was a geographic subdivision (called a "hundred") in the north of the county of Surrey, England. The majority of its area forms the modern Borough of Elmbridge, with the remainder forming part of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in Greater London.
Elmbridge appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Amelebrige an area used for strategic, secular purposes with a Hundred Court where local wealthy and powerful figures met about once a month. [1] It also had in early centuries a small number of owners who attempted to charge and collect rent of all of the owners of the main manageable medieval asset in the country, the manors.[ citation needed ]
The name refers to a bridge over the River Mole, which was originally called the River Emel [2] or Amele, a word possibly meaning 'misty' and later had the alternate form Emlyn; the bridge may have been between Hersham and Esher and specifically close to the crossing of today's A244 road. [3]
Elmbridge's name thus did not derive from elm trees which appeared on the Surbiton Urban District Council municipal arms and continue in the Elmbridge municipal arms. [3]
Parishes within the hundred were:
At times it also included:
Surbiton had an elm tree on its crest as its area once lay within the Elmbridge hundred. [5]
Its economic unity was shattered like most hundreds given the rise of smaller manors and newer manors which came to form the main, manageable agricultural asset throughout the country. It occupied just less than the central to north-west twelfth of the county.[ citation needed ]
The Victoria County History collated the medieval documents such as feet of fines and using these supports a date of about 1200, which would tie it in the grant of a liberty by King John, as when it passed to the borough of Kingston to be held "at fee farm" being kept farmed and free from (land that was never cultivatable, termed waste). In 1280 it was said to be in the hands of their tenant Reginald de Imworth, with whose manor of Imworth it descended until 1499, when Richard Ardern died seised of the manor of Imworth and half the hundred, held of (i.e. under and subject to a rent to) the men of Kingston. Within the hundred there were several exempt jurisdictions. In 1253 John D'Abernon was successful in his claim to view of frankpledge in Stoke D'Abernon, and Avelina, daughter of Geoffrey de Cruce and wife of Roger de Legh, also claimed the right in Walton.[ citation needed ]
In a Subsidy Roll of about 1334 the area was valued at £24 0s. 6d, although it is not clear if this was a collective tax demand figure of the manors of the hundred. [6]
Kingston upon Thames is a town and borough in Greater London, England, formerly within the county of Surrey. It is situated on the River Thames, about 33 feet (10 m) above sea level and 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as the ancient market town in which Saxon kings were crowned and today is the administrative centre of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.
Cobham is a large village in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, centred 17 miles (27 km) south-west of London and 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Guildford on the River Mole. It has a commercial/services High Street, a significant number of primary and private schools and the Painshill landscape park.
Esher is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole.
Elmbridge is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its principal towns are Esher, Cobham, Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge and Molesey. It directly borders the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the London Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Areas of the borough form a continuation of the Greater London built-up area, formerly falling into the Metropolitan Police District.
Long Ditton is a residential suburb in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England on the boundary with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London. In medieval times it was a village, occupying a narrow strip of land. Neighbouring settlements include Hinchley Wood, Thames Ditton and Surbiton.
Thames Ditton is a suburban village by and on the River Thames, in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Apart from a large inhabited island in the river, it lies on the southern bank, centred 12.2 miles (19.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross in central London. Thames Ditton is just outside Greater London but within the Greater London Urban Area as defined by the Office for National Statistics. Its clustered village centre and shopping area on a winding High Street is surrounded by housing, schools and sports areas. Its riverside faces the Thames Path and Hampton Court Palace Gardens and golf course in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its most commercial area is spread throughout its conservation area and contains restaurants, cafés, shops and businesses.
Stoke D'Abernon is a village and former civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England. It is on the right bank of the River Mole contiguously south of Cobham, a larger settlement which is a post town and is east-southeast of Oxshott a large village founded in the 19th century from the higher, sandy forested part of its formerly expansive area. It shares a railway station with Cobham and is inside the M25 motorway. Cobham Training Centre, the training ground of Chelsea F.C., is within its traditional boundaries.
Esher and Walton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is currently represented by Dominic Raab of the Conservative Party, who is the current Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State.
Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, is a village in England midway between the market towns of Reigate and Epsom. The village is a dispersed cluster on the North Downs centred less than one mile inside of the M25 motorway. The village hosts the Walton Heath Golf Club, whose former members include King Edward VIII, Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George.
Epsom was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. From its creation in 1885 until its abolition in 1974, it was won by eight Conservatives. The winner took less than 50% of the votes in its contested elections once, in 1945, receiving 49.9% of the vote in a three-party contest. Six elections, the last being a by-election in 1912, were uncontested.
Claygate is a suburban village in Surrey, England, 13 miles southwest of central London. It is the only civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge. Surrounded by green belt, it lies inside the Greater London Built-up Area.
Molesey is a suburban district comprising two towns, East Molesey and West Molesey, in Surrey, England, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames.
Walton and Weybridge Urban District was a local government district in Surrey, England from 1933 to 1974.
Esher Urban District was an urban district in Surrey, England created by merging two urban districts and adding two parishes to the south-west. It existed from 1933 to 1974 and was governed by the elected Esher Urban District Council which shared local government functions with Surrey County Council. Its main building was the large town hall in Esher.
Esher was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. In the general elections during its 47-year lifetime it was won by three Conservatives successively. In area it shrank in 1974, then regrew in 1983 taking in four sparsely inhabited wards which proved to be temporary, as omitted from the successor seat, Esher and Walton.
Weston Green is a small suburban village and a ward in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey. This area was, until 1901, a part of Thames Ditton with which it remains contiguous and associated. Weston Green is also contiguous with Esher, which provides the village's closest railway station. The village forms a rough triangle of land along the west side of the midsection of the Hampton Court Branch Line next to Thames Ditton railway station and down to Esher railway station, with the split between the two being the part dual-carriageway, the A309.
West Surrey was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Surrey, which returned two Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the bloc vote system.
The Hundred of Kingston or Kingston Hundred was an ancient hundred in the north east of the county of Surrey, England. Its area has been mostly absorbed by the growth of London; with its name currently referring to both the suburban town of Kingston upon Thames and the larger Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. Its former area now corresponds to that borough and part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in Greater London and part of the borough of Elmbridge in Surrey. It bordered the Hundred of Brixton to the east, the Hundred of Elmbridge to the south, and to the west and north by the River Thames.