Hundreds of Cheshire

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The Hundreds of Cheshire, as with other Hundreds in England, were the geographic divisions of Cheshire for administrative, military and judicial purposes. They were introduced in Cheshire some time before the Norman conquest. Later on, both the number and names of the hundreds changed by processes of land being lost from Cheshire, and merging or amalgamation of remaining hundreds. The Ancient parishes of Cheshire were usually wholly within a specific hundred, although a few were divided between two hundreds.

Contents

The hundreds at the time of the Domesday Survey

Doomsday Book - Counties of England - 1086.png
Cheshire and Inter Ripam et Mersam are English counties documented in the Domesday book of 1086. [1]
Cheshire-Domesday-Hundreds.svg
There were 12 documented Hundreds within the borders of Cheshire in 1086.(The two hundreds that are now in Wales are shown in pink)

Cheshire, in the Domesday Book was recorded as a larger county than it is today. [2] There is a small disagreement in published sources about where the northern boundary of Cheshire lay, and some parts of the border areas with Wales were disputed with the predecessors of Wales. One source states that the northern border was the River Ribble, resulting in large parts of what was to become Lancashire being at that time part of Cheshire. [3] This area is included as "Inter Ripam et Mersam" in the Domesday Book. [3] [4] However, more recent sources confirm that the actual boundary at that time was the River Mersey. [5] [6] [7] The ancient parish of Whitchurch in Hodnet Hundred appears in both Cheshire and Shropshire rolls of the Domesday Survey. [8]

Twelve hundreds

The land south of the River Mersey was made up of twelve hundreds: Atiscross, [9] Bochelau, [10] Chester, [11] Dudestan, [12] Exestan, [13] Hamestan, [14] Middlewich, [15] Riseton, [16] Roelau, [17] Tunendune, [18] Warmundestrou [19] and Wilaveston, [20] with the hundreds of Atiscross and Exestan being disputed with the Kingdom of Gwynedd. [21] (There are slight variations between various sources in the spellings of these names.) The hundreds in between the Mersey and the Ribble (Inter Ripam et Mersam) were: West Derby ("Derbei"), Newton ("Neweton"), Warrington ("Walingtune"), Salford, Blackburn ("Blacheburn") and Leyland ("Lailand"). [22]

This uncertain nature of the northern border lasted until 1182, when the land north of the Mersey became administered as part of the new county of Lancashire. [23] Later, the hundreds of Atiscross and Exestan became firmly part of Wales, as did part of the Dudestan hundred.

Emergence of the later hundreds

The Later Hundreds of Cheshire around 1850. Cheshire-Later-Hundreds.svg
The Later Hundreds of Cheshire around 1850.

Over the years the remaining ten hundreds consolidated to just seven with changed names: Broxton, Bucklow, Eddisbury, Macclesfield, Nantwich, Northwich and Wirral. The date at which this process happened is not clear: These newer names are reported to be all in use by 1259 to 1260. [24] The same source reports research that has found Macclesfield Hundred to be named in 1242 and Eddisbury Hundred by the late 12th century. [24] Chester lost its hundred status, but was subsequently given the status of "county of itself" and was known as the City and County of Chester.

Broxton

This hundred was mainly formed from the old Dudestan hundred. The southern part of Dudestan was transferred to Wales where it was known as Maelor Saesneg, and (later still) "Flintshire Detached" (see Ancient county of Flintshire.) [21] Broxton hundred from time to time contained all or part of the following parishes: [25]

Bucklow

Bucklow was known to have been in existence at least as early as 1260. It was formed from the earlier Domesday hundreds of Bochelau and Tunendune. [24] [28]

Eddisbury

Eddisbury included the ancient parishes of: [29] [30]

Macclesfield

Macclesfield was known to have been in existence at least as early as 1242. It was formed to a great extent from the earlier Domesday hundred of Hamestan. [24] [28]

Wirral

Wirral was formed from the earlier Domesday hundred of Wilaveston.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beeston, Cheshire</span> Village and civil parish in England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flintshire</span> County in Wales

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackburn Hundred</span> Former sub-division of Lancashire, UK

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyland Hundred</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Lancashire</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upton-by-Chester</span> Human settlement in England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddisbury (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1885 to 1950 and 1983 onwards

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Tarvin is a village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It had a population of 2,693 people at the 2001 UK census, rising to 2,728 at the 2011 census, and the ward covers about 17 square miles (44 km2).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hooton, Cheshire</span> Human settlement in England

Hooton is a suburban village and former civil parish on the Wirral Peninsula, within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was once a separate village but was incorporated into Ellesmere Port as the town expanded outwards during the twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cholmondeston</span> Village in Cheshire, England

Cholmondeston is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies 5 miles (8 km) to the northwest of Nantwich. Nearby villages include Aston juxta Mondrum, Barbridge, Calveley and Wettenhall. The Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal and the Crewe–Chester railway line run through the civil parish. The area is predominantly rural, with a total population of around 150 in 2001, increasing to 175 at the 2011 Census.

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The timeline of Cheshire history shows significant events in the history of the English county of Cheshire.

The ceremonial county of Cheshire, which comprises the unitary authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington, has returned 11 MPs to the UK Parliament since 1997.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ The area north of Yorkshire was not conquered by William I; it was his successor, William Rufus who took control of what is now Cumbria, Cumberland and Westmorland in 1092.
  2. ↑ http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/cheshire.html Domesday Book Online: Cheshire
  3. 1 2 Sylvester (1980 , p. 14)
  4. ↑ Morgan (1978 , pp. 269c, 301c, 301d)
  5. ↑ Harris & Thacker (1987 , p. 252) write:
    Certainly there were links between Cheshire and south Lancashire before 1000 AD, when Wulfric Spot held lands in both territories. Wulfric's estates remained grouped together after his death, when they were left to his brother Aelfhelm, and indeed there still seems to have been some kind of connection in 1086, when south Lancashire was surveyed together with Cheshire by the Domesday commissioners. Nevertheless, the two territories do seem to have been distinguished from one another in some way and it is not certain that the shire-moot and the reeves referred to in the south Lancashire section of Domesday were the Cheshire ones.
  6. ↑ Phillips & Phillips (2002 , pp. 26–31)
  7. ↑ Crosby (1996 , p. 31) writes:
    The Domesday Survey (1086) included south Lancashire with Cheshire for convenience, but the Mersey, the name of which means 'boundary river', is known to have divided the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia and there is no doubt that this was the real boundary.
  8. ↑ Open Domesday: Whitchurch Parish in Hodnet Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  9. ↑ Open Domesday: Ati's Cross Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  10. ↑ Open Domesday: Bucklow Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  11. ↑ Open Domesday: Chester Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  12. ↑ Open Domesday: Duddeston Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  13. ↑ Open Domesday: Exestan Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  14. ↑ Open Domesday: Hamestan Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  15. ↑ Open Domesday: Middlewich Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  16. ↑ Open Domesday: Rushton Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  17. ↑ Open Domesday: Ruloe Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  18. ↑ Open Domesday: Tunendune Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  19. ↑ Open Domesday: Warmundestrou Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  20. ↑ Open Domesday: Willaston Hundred. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  21. 1 2 Harris & Thacker (1987 , pp. 340–341)
  22. ↑ Morgan (1978 , pp. 269c–301c, 301d). Names as given in Domesday are in parentheses after the previous individual names. The names and number of these hundreds changed over time.
  23. ↑ "History of Lancashire". Aboutlancs. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Dunn (1987 , p. 7)
  25. ↑ WeRelate: Broxton Hundred, Cheshire. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  26. ↑ A Vision of Britain through Time: Bunbury, Cheshire. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  27. 1 2 WeRelate: Bunbury, Cheshire. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  28. 1 2 Mortimer 1847 , p. 51.
  29. ↑ A Vision of Britain through Time: Eddisbury, Cheshire. Accessed 23 July 2022.
  30. ↑ Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).

Bibliography

  • Crosby, A (1996), A History of Cheshire, (The Darwen County History Series.), Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Phillimore & Co. Ltd, ISBN   0-85033-932-4
  • Dunn, F. I. (1987), The Ancient Parishes, Townships, and Chapelries of Cheshire, Chester: Cheshire Record Office and Chester Diocesan Record Office, ISBN   0-906758-14-9
  • Harris, B. E.; Thacker, A. T. (1987), The Victoria History of the County of Chester. (Volume 1: Physique, Prehistory, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Domesday), Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN   0-19-722761-9
  • Higham, N. J. (1993), The origins of Cheshire, Origins of the shire, Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN   0-7190-3160-5
  • Morgan, P. (1978), Domesday Book Cheshire: Including Lancashire, Cumbria, and North Wales, Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., ISBN   0-85033-140-4
  • Mortimer, William Williams (1847), The History of the Hundred of Wirral, Whittaker & Co.
  • Phillips, A. D. M.; Phillips, C. B. (2002), A New Historical Atlas of Cheshire, Chester, UK: Cheshire County Council and Cheshire Community Council Publications Trust, ISBN   0-904532-46-1
  • Sylvester, D. (1980), A History of Cheshire, (The Darwen County History Series) (2nd ed.), London and Chichester, Sussex: Phillimore & Co. Ltd, ISBN   0-85033-384-9
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