THE HUNDRED OF SOUTHOVER
containing the parish of Southover
In 1249 and 1263 Southover (fn. 1) was described as a halimote, (fn. 2) but in 1275
as a half-hundred (fn. 3) and so also in 1287, (fn. 4) 1332, (fn. 5) and 1334. (fn. 6) Between 1540
and 1560 it was described for the collection of lay subsidies as a hundred, (fn. 7)
and so again in 1587, at which date it comprised the vills of Southover and
also Lewes. (fn. 8) In 1296 and 1327 it was regarded, also for taxation purposes, as
a 'borough' and was extra-hundredal, as was Lewes, (fn. 9) and so again from 1572
to at least 1665. (fn. 10) In 1831 Southover was reckoned in Swanborough Hundred, (fn. 11)
while in Figg's map of Sussex (1861) it is definitely marked as part of Barcombe
Hundred, as it seems also to be in Budgen's map of 1724. Hundreds are for all
practical purposes now extinct, but theoretically there appears still to be a
hundred of Southover.
Footnotes
| 1 |
Southenouere (xi cent.); Suthoure (xii cent.); Suthenore, Suthovere (xiii cent.). |
| 2 |
Ass. R. 909, m. 32; ibid. 912, m. 41. |
| 3 |
Rot. Hund. (Rec. Com.), ii, 209. |
| 4 |
Assize. R. 924, m. 59d, where tithings of Westporte and Estporte are mentioned; cf. Lewes Chart. i, 91–105. |
| 5 |
Suss. Rec. Soc. x, 296 (subsidy). |
| 6 |
Suss. Arch. Coll. l, 171. |
| 7 |
Lay Subs. 190, nos. 175, 235, 246, 267. The owners of the manor of Southover from 1541 to 1609
held also the 'borough': Suss. Rec. Soc. xiv, 24; Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cccxi, 110. |
| 8 |
Lay Subs. 190, no. 309. |
| 9 |
Suss. Rec. Soc. x, 51, 183. |
| 10 |
Lay Subs. 190, nos. 283 (1572), 299 (1576), 342 (1622); ibid. 191, nos. 372 (1625), 382 (1628),
409 (1664); ibid. 258, nos. 15, 18 (1664, 1665) (Hearth Tax). |
| 11 |
Lewis, Top. Dict. (1831 ed.) |