THE HUNDRED OF FINCHDEAN
CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF
|
| BLENDWORTH |
CHALTON
Idsworth Chapelry |
PETERSFIELD BOROUGH
Sheet Tithing |
| BURITON |
| CATHERINGTON |
CLANFIELD |
|
The above list represents the extent of the hundred of Finchdean at
the time of the population returns of 1831. The parishes of Bramshott,
Greatham, and Liss were added to the hundred before 1841, (fn. 1) and Waterloo,
constituted a parish in 1858, is also now included in the hundred.
At the time of the Domesday Survey this hundred was called 'Ceptune'
Hundred, and included the parishes
of Blendworth, Buriton, Catherington,
Chalton, Clanfield, and Petersfield. (fn. 2)
The land comprising the hundred was
assessed in the time of Edward the
Confessor at 83 hides, and in the
time of the Survey at about half that
amount. The hundred had assumed
its modern name before the end of
the twelfth century, (fn. 3) but seems sometimes to have been called 'Wlputta,'
as in the Testa de Nevill, where Chalton, Idsworth, and Mapledurham are
included in the hundred of that
name. (fn. 4) The extent of the hundred
has altered but little since the time of
the Survey. Some of the parishes,
however, of which it was composed
had not exactly the same boundaries as
they have at the present day. Thus
the western part of the parish of
Catherington was included in the
hundred of Portsdown until the reign of Edward II, and in the reign of
Edward I the manor of Hinton Daubnay is mentioned as being in the same
hundred, (fn. 5) while in 1316 it was included in Finchdean. (fn. 6) Wellsworth, which
is situated in Idsworth chapelry, was also included in Portsdown Hundred
in the reign of Edward I, when the abbot of Titchfield was forced to allow
his villeins of Wellsworth to do suit at the hundred of the king at Portsdown, (fn. 7) and it was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that
it was transferred to Finchdean. (fn. 8) In 1431 the fourth part of a knight's fee
in 'Oldestoke' was included in Finchdean, (fn. 9) but this place does not appear
under the hundred in subsequent subsidy rolls.
INDEX MAP to the HUNDRED of FINCHDEAN
The hundred originally belonged to the crown, (fn. 10) and was granted either
in the twelfth or thirteenth century to William de Albini, earl of Arundel. (fn. 11)
It was appendant to the earldom of Arundel for a considerable time, (fn. 12) finally
passing to Henry V on the death of Thomas, earl of Arundel, in 1415. (fn. 13)
The hundred then remained with the crown for nearly two hundred years,
Elizabeth at length in 1600 granting it by letters patent to Henry Best
and Robert Holland, who conveyed it the next day to Robert Paddon
and his heirs. (fn. 14) In 1604 Robert sold it for £150 to Nicholas Hyde,
lord of the manor of Hinton Daubnay, (fn. 15) since which date it has followed
the descent of that manor (q.v.). (fn. 16) As late as 1651 a hundred court with
view of frankpledge was held twice a year for the hundred at Hocktide and Martinmas. (fn. 17)