TOPOGRAPHY 



THE HUNDRED OF EDWINSTREE 



ALBURY 



ANSTEY 



ASPEN DEN WITH WAKELEY 



BARKWAY 



BARLEY 



BUCKLAND 



CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF 



LITTLE HADHAM 

 MUCH HADHAM 

 GREAT HORMEAD 

 LITTLE HORMEAD 

 LAYSTON 

 MEESDEN 



BRENT PELHAM 

 FURNEUX PELHAM 

 STOCKING PELHAM 

 THROCKING 

 WYDDIAL 1 



The hundred of Edwinstree occupies the north-eastern corner of 

 Hertfordshire and borders on the county of Essex. The parishes on the 

 eastern side, where the two counties 



• / • .• GREAT 



i; HORMEAD A*,., 



ynTTLE .* ■■•i-; 



; BRENT ^ 

 • PELH y 





.^Jr^i^^ 



.yORMEAD' 





<*^' FURNEUX*' ' 

 '■■2 PELHAM 



% LITTLE HADHAr | 

 I 



adjoin, seem to have been still in part 

 thickly covered with woodland in the 

 iith century.' Probably the early 

 settlements here were sparse, and this 

 would account for the subdivision of 

 areas suggested by the names Brent 

 Pelham, Furneux Pelham, and Stock- 

 ing Pelham and Much and Little 

 Hadham. In the i 3th century there 

 was still a large amount of woodland 

 in these parishes. 



The total assessment of the hun- 

 dred in 1086 seems to have been for 

 I 20 hides. The exact amount, how- 

 ever, is difficult to estimate, owing to 

 the doubt that arises about the in- 

 clusion of several places within it.' 

 Widford, which is entered under 

 Edwinstree in 1086 but is now a 

 parish in Braughing Hundred, lies on 

 the border of Edwinstree Hundred, 

 and there is no reason why it should 

 not have been included in it in 1086. 

 Cockhamstead also, an estate in the 

 parish of Braughing, adjoins the parish 

 of Albury in this hundred and may 



have been originally reckoned within it. An estate in Hoddesdon, however, 

 which is given under Edwinstree in 1086, can scarcely be entered correctly 

 under that hundred, as it is separated from it by the hundred of Braughing, 

 and the other holdings there are given under Hertford Hundred. On the 

 other hand an estate of 5 hides in Anstey is entered under Odsey Hundred, 

 but, as Anstey does not adjoin Odsey Hundred and another holding there is 



^ Pop. Ret. (18^1), i, 24.6. . ijr n v u , 



2 In the small parish of Meesden the return of woodland was for 400 swine m 1086 {V.L.H. Herts. 



3 The total amount at which Barkway was assessed is also a little uncertain {F.C.H. Herts, i, 329, n. 1). 



4 



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Index Map to the Hundred of Edwinstree 



