TOPOGRAPHY 



THE HUNDRED OF HITCHIN 



HITCHIN 

 ICKLEFORD 

 IPPOLLITTS 

 KIMPTON 



KINGS WALDEN i 

 LILLEY 



OFFLEY 

 PIRTON 3 



This hundred was generally called the ' half hundred of Hiz (Hitchin),' 

 its Domesday assessment working out at about 40 hides. During the 15th, 

 1 6th and 17th centuries it is sometimes 

 referred to as the hundred of Polettes 

 (Ippollitts). 3 



All the places above named are 

 mentioned in the hundred in 1086 except 

 Ickleford and Ippollitts ; Ickleford was 

 then included in Pirton, and Ippollitts is 

 represented by the manor of Almshoe. 

 The Domesday Survey also places within 

 the hundred Westoning (Bedfordshire), 

 Welei, Wilei, Flesmere, Hexton and 

 Bendish, a hamlet in St. Paul's Walden. 1 

 Though Westoning was attached by its 

 tenure to this hundred, its ' wara ' or 

 place of assessment was in the hundred 

 of Manshead in Bedfordshire. 6 Welei is 

 possibly Wedelee in Preston, but both 

 this and Welei cannot be identified with 

 certainty. 6 Flesmere 7 or Flexmere 8 



remains unidentified, also Leglega, where Index Map to the Hundred of Hitchin 



there was 1 virgate of land (although 



the latter may possibly be Ley Green to the north of King's Walden) ; 

 Hexton was transferred to the hundred of Cashio before 1286." Bendish 

 was also added to the same hundred soon after the Survey, probably by the 

 Abbot of St. Albans, to whom Cashio belonged. 10 



The hundred of Hitchin appears to have always belonged to the 

 Crown. 11 



1 St. Paul's Walden is in the hundred of Cashio. 



2 According to Population Returns of 1831. 



3 Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Edw. IV, no. 38 ; (Ser. ii), ix, 67 ; xxxiii, 5 : 



4 V.C.H. Herts- i, 302, 304, 316. 



fi Ibid. 297. 7 Ibid. 304a 



Ibid, ii, 320. 10 Ibid. 480. 



11 Pipe R. 21 Hen. II (Pipe R. Soc.), 77, &c. ; Rot. Cur. Reg. (Rec 

 j 325, m. i8d. ; Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 188 et seq. 



3 ' 



Ct. of Wards, Feod. Surv. 17. 

 B Ibid. 302^. 

 8 Ibid. 338a. 



Com.), i, 164 ; Assize R. Herts. 



