DOMESDAY SURVEY 



two wapentakes, ' Hammenstan ' and ' Walecros,' for the existence of 

 which we have no other authority. High Peak wapentake is not 

 mentioned at all ; Appletree wapentake only incidentally in the list of 

 local customs in the counties of Nottingham and Derby, which comes 

 between the surveys of the two shires. After all this, it will be seen that 

 any attempt to divide out the total assessment of the county according to 

 wapentakes must contain too much guesswork to have any scientific 

 value. 1 



Imperfect as is the rubrication of the Derbyshire Domesday, it 

 incidentally reveals the existence of another problem which cannot be 

 settled on the Derbyshire evidence alone, but which certainly deserves 

 mention in this place. On page 3 34 there occurs the heading Morelestan 

 Wapentake, Salle [Sawley] Hundred. Now Sawley is situated close to 

 the Trent, which divides Derbyshire from Leicestershire at this point ; 

 and we happen to know that each of the four wapentakes which existed 

 in Leicestershire at this time was subdivided into a number of small 

 territorial 'hundreds,' each 'hundred' consisting of a number of vills, 

 which are sometimes spread over a considerable area and intermingled 

 with other similar groups. We know very little about the functions of 

 these 'hundreds,' but it seems clear that they represent a stage in the 

 subportionment of the geld intermediate between the wapentake and the 

 vill, for the number of carucates assessed upon a Leicestershire 'hundred' 

 will normally be some multiple of six or twelve. 9 It is very probable that 

 this system was not confined to Leicestershire, for we meet with several 

 * hundreds ' in the course of the Nottinghamshire survey, and it would 

 seem as if Lincolnshire was divided in a similar manner, while the 

 existence of the unique hundred of Sawley, in Derbyshire, looks very much 

 as if the system was extended into that county also. The importance of 

 the question lies in the fact that in these vanished hundreds would rest 

 the best proof of the duodecimal organization of the Derbyshire assessment, 

 proof which it is not possible to recover without further evidence than we 

 at present possess. 



On working through the Derbyshire Domesday, however, the 

 following instances of a duodecimal system lie upon the surface of the 

 record: 'Mestesforde' and its berewicks assessed together at 9 carucates; 

 Walton-on-Trent and Rosliston assessed (together) at 6 ; Repton and 

 Milton, likewise together, at 6 ; Melbourne at 6 ; Bakewell, with its 

 berewicks, at 1 8 ; Sawley, with Draycott and Hopwell, at 1 2 ; (Long) 

 Eaton at 12; Shottle with Wallstone at 6; Croxall at 3; Atlow at 3; 

 Scropton, with its three unspecified berewicks, at 6 ; Barlborough with 

 Whitwell at 6 ; Willington at 3 ; Clifton at 3 ; Catton at 3 ; Tibshelf at 3 ; 

 Bolsover at 3. Combining fractional parts of a vill we obtain: Etwall 

 assessed at 6 carucates (5 + i) ; Osmaston by Derby at 3 (2 + J + f + f) ; 

 Edingale at 3 (2 + i) ; Breaston at 6 (f + + 2 + 3 + J). Still more 

 significant is the assessment of the three royal manors of Wirksworth, 



1 It was attempted by Mr. Eyton, but his results are not convincing. 

 3 Sec for these ' hundreds ' the survey mentioned on the previous pagr. 



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