Hundred of Winterstoke

Winterstoke
A map of the Winterstoke Hundred in 1645


Area
62,030 acres (251 km2)
History
 • Created unknown
Status Hundred
 • HQ Banwell
Subdivisions
 • Type Parishes
 • Units Axbridge, Badgworth, Banwell, Blagdon, Bleadon, Cheddar, Christon, Churchill, Compton Bishop, Congresbury, East Harptree, Hutton, Kenn, Kewstoke, Locking, Loxton, Puxton, Rodney Stoke, Rowberrow, Shipham, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, Wick St Lawrence, Winscombe, Worle, Yatton

The Hundred of Winterstoke is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon 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 system.[1] They also formed a unit for the collection of taxes.[2] 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.[3]

It consisted of the ancient parishes of: Axbridge, Badgworth, Banwell, Blagdon, Bleadon, Cheddar, Christon, Churchill, Compton Bishop, Congresbury, East Harptree, Hutton, Kenn, Kewstoke, Locking, Loxton, Puxton, Rodney Stoke, Rowberrow, Shipham, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, Wick St Lawrence, Winscombe, Worle, Yatton. It also included the extra parochial area of Charterhouse-on-Mendip,[4] covering in total approximately 62,030 acres (25,100 ha).[5]

The hundred court met at Banwell. An 18th century antiquarian, Collinson, claimed that the name of the hundred came from a lost village called Winterstoke at a place in Banwell parish called Winthill.[6] The name is proposed to be revived for a new housing development, Winterstoke Village, to be sited on the former Weston Airfield.[7]

In the Domesday Book the hundred also included Kingston Seymour (later in Chewton Hundred).[8]

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 districts, and highway districts 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 courts in 1867[9] and the introduction of districts by the Local Government Act 1894.[10]

Lord Winterstoke (1830-1911) took his title from the hundred when he was raised to the peerage in 1906. His name is borne by Winterstoke Roads in south Bristol and Weston-super-Mare (probably named after the person rather directly after the hundred).

References

  1. ↑ "Administrative Units Typology | Status definition: Hundred". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
  2. ↑ "The Shire and the Hundred". Somerset County Council. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  3. ↑ "Summary". Institute of Archaeology. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  4. ↑ "Relationships/unit history of Winterstoke". Vision of Britain website. University of portsmouth. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  6. ↑ "The Winterstoke Hundred". Banwell history website. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "Weston Villages Supplementary Planning Document" (PDF). North Somerset Council website. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  8. ↑ "Hundred:Winterstoke". Domesday Map website. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  9. ↑ County Courts Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 142) s.28
  10. ↑ "Mapping the Hundreds of England and Wales in GIS". University of Cambridge Department of Geography. 6 June 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
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