Between the 10th and the 19th centuries the hundreds of Norfolk and the boroughs of Norwich, King's Lynn, Thetford and Great Yarmouth were the administrative units of the English county of Norfolk. Each hundred had a separate council that met each month to rule on local judicial and taxation matters.
The system of dividing shires into hundreds was established in East Anglia following the conquest by Wessex in the early 10th century.[1] The boundaries described at the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086 remained largely unchanged up to the 1970s. The 36 Domesday hundreds were subdivided into leets, now lost, and the boroughs of Norwich and Thetford ranked as separate hundreds, while Great Yarmouth was the chief town of three hundreds. Two of Thetford's parishes now lie partially in Norfolk with the remainder in Suffolk. The Domesday hundred of Emneth is now included in Freebridge, which was split into Freebridge-Lynn and Freebridge-Marshland. Docking hundred was then incorporated into Smithdon, and the boundary between Brothercross and Gallow hundreds was changed.[2] By the 19th century there were 33 hundreds.
The leet court boundaries were more fluid and transient than the hundred court boundaries. At the time of Domesday, the parishes of the hundreds of Brothercross and Gallow "were strangely intermixed".[3]
Sites of hundred courts
The hundred courts were held at various sites across the county:[2]
| Name of hundred | Site of hundred court |
|---|---|
| Brothercross | At the cross by the ford over the Burnham |
| Clackclose | Clackclose Hill on Stradsett common |
| Depwade | At the "deep ford" over the Tas |
| Earsham | At an encampment near Earsham church. |
| Eynsford | Reepham |
| Forehoe | Parish of Carleton Forehoe |
| Freebridge | At Flitcham Burgh, afterwards at an oak at Gaywood and still later at an oak at Wiggenhall St Germans |
| Gallow | In the 15th century at Fakenham and in the 16th century at Longfield Stone |
| Greenhoe | By the tumuli on the London road to Swaffham |
| Grimeshoe | At a tumulus between Brandon and Norwich |
| Humbleyard | Parish of Swardeston |
| Launditch | At the crossing of the Norwich road with the long ditch between Longham and Beeston |
| Mitford | In 1639, at "Brokpit" |
| North Erpingham | At Guneby Gate near Gunton |
| Smithdon | Parish of Bircham Magna |
| South Erpingham | At Cawston Park Gate |
| Taverham | Frettenham Hill |
Parishes
In 1845 the hundreds of Norfolk contained the following parishes.[4]
In addition the following four towns were considered as separate boroughs.
| Borough | Acres |
|---|---|
| Great Yarmouth | 1,270 acres (5.1 km2) |
| King's Lynn | 2,720 acres (11.0 km2) |
| Norwich | 6,630 acres (26.8 km2) |
| Thetford | 6,976 acres (28.23 km2) |
References
- ↑ 'The Historical Context', Anglo-Saxon Settlement on the Siltland of Eastern England, Lincolnshire Archaeology and Heritage Reports Series, 7 (2005), 264-88, David Roffe, quoting Williamson, T., 1993 The Origins of Norfolk (Manchester), pp
- 1 2 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Norfolk". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 744–747.
- ↑ Blomefield, Francis (1807). "Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds". An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk. Vol. 7. London: British History Online. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
- ↑ White, William (1845). History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Norfolk, and the City and County of the City of Norwich (2nd ed.). Sheffield: Printed for the author by 'R. Leader'. OCLC 504893480.