THE HUNDRED OF EAST MEON
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
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EAST MEON |
FROXFIELD and |
STEEP with North Ambersham
Tithing and South Ambersham Tithing (fn. 1)
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In Domesday Book the hundred is represented by a single entry under
'Meon,' which no doubt, however, included the present parishes of Froxfield
and Steep. The land within the hundred was assessed at 72 hides at
the time of Edward the Confessor, and at 35 hides at the time of the
Survey. (fn. 2) Westbury and perhaps Peak also were included in Meonstoke hundred in the Survey, (fn. 3) and the tithing of Westbury and Peak still formed
part of it in 1841, Westbury being then situated partly in East Meon
parish and partly in West Meon parish, and Peak wholly in the parish
of Warnford. (fn. 4) It has, however, since been transferred to East Meon hundred.
In 1316 the hundred appears to have comprised also the hundred of Hambledon, for the vills of Hambledon, Chidden, Glidden,
and Denmead are included
under it, (fn. 5) the three lastnamed being tithings of
Hambledon at the present
day. Hambledon, however,
must soon afterwards have
been detached, for it was a
separate hundred in the reign
of Edward III. (fn. 6) From that
time onwards the hundred
included the same parishes
as are set out in the population returns of 1831. The
parishes of Colemore, Privett, and Priors Dean were
added to the hundred before
1841, (fn. 7) and the new parish of Langrish has been formed from the tithings
of Langrish, Ramsdean, and Bordean. A further change was effected when
the Ambershams, situated in Sussex, were detached from the parish of Steep
under the Acts 2 & 3 Will. IV, cap. 64, and 7 & 8 Vic. cap. 61, and
became part of Sussex.
INDEX MAP to the HUNDRED of EAST MEON
From the earliest date the hundred followed the descent of the manor
of East Meon (q.v.), that is, it was in the hands of the bishop until it
passed with the manor to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners on the resignation of the see by Bishop Sumner in 1869.
Footnotes
| 1 |
The extent of the hundred as given in the Population Return of 1831. |
| 2 |
V.C.H. Hants, i, 452. |
| 3 |
Ibid. i, 481a. |
| 4 |
Population Return of 1841. |
| 5 |
Feud. Aids, ii, 319. 'Sunt in dicto hundredo ville subscripte—Estmune, Froxfeld, Rammesdon, Langeryshe, Stupe, Thorcope, Hameledon, Chidden, Gludden et Denemede.' This may of course have been a
slip of the scribe. |
| 6 |
Lay Subs. R. Edw. III, Hants, bdle. 173, No. 33. |
| 7 |
Cf. Population Returns of 1831 and 1841. |