BRAUGHING HUNDRED 



Very little information is to be found in regard to the hundred court. 

 The hundred was a royal one, 20 and remained in the king's hands until 

 granted by Elizabeth to Sir William Cecil in 1 571." The descent then 

 follows that of Hertford Hundred (q.v.). The court must have been originally 

 held at Braughing, which seems to have been a place of importance. It 

 was probably part of the ancient demesne of the Crown, 22 and was the head 

 of a deanery, 33 besides giving its name to the hundred. Whether the three 

 weekly court continued to be held at Braughing is not clear from the 

 evidence, but in the 14th century the sheriff's tourn was held at the 

 neighbouring village of Puckeridge. 2 * 



The jurisdiction of the sheriff was limited by the usual private 

 franchises. In 1287 no fewer than six lords claimed the right to hold 

 view of frankpledge at Sawbridgeworth, three claimed it in Gilston, three at 

 Thorley, and one at Ware. 26 Rather earlier the lord of Standon had been 

 presented for non-payment of 1 6s. for sheriff's aid, 1 mark for view of 

 frankpledge and for withdrawal of suit at the hundred and county court, 

 which ought to have been rendered for the whole vill by the tenant of 

 certain lands whose tenure made him responsible for rendering the suit. 28 

 The lords of Braughing and Eastwick were presented at the same time for 

 similar encroachments, all of which were said to have been made within the 

 last twenty years. 27 Bishop's Stortford, as a borough, was independent of 

 the hundred in the appearance before the justices of assize, and sometimes 

 also for purposes of local assessment. 28 



» Assize R. 325, m. z S (15 Edw. I) ; HunJ. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 190. 



21 Pat. 13 Eliz. pt. vii, m. 21. 



22 See Assize R. 6 Edw. I (Agard's MS. index, fol. 98^). 



n The deanery was not coincident with the hundred. It included most of the places in Braughing 

 Hundred, the greater part of Edwinstree Hundred, and a few parishes in Odsey. 



24 Ct. R. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 178, no. 41. 



25 Assize R. 325, m. 25 (15 Edw. I). 



36 Hmd. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 188 ; ef. p. 193, where suit is said to be owed by the reeve and four men. 

 Possibly the Geoffrey de Leukenure mentioned in the other passage was the reeve 



27 Ibid. 191. 



28 See Subs. R. bdle. [20, no. 25 (14 Edw. III). 



