THE HUNDRED OF COMPTON
Containing The Parishes Of
Aldworth; Catmore; Chilton; Compton; Franborough; East Ilsley; West Ilsley
In the Domesday Survey the places now included in the hundred of
Compton are returned as belonging to that of Nachededorne, which
included in addition Stanford, Brightwalton and Yattendon. Certain manors
in both East and West Ilsley, however, belonged to the hundred of
Kintbury. The hundred was assessed
under Edward the Confessor at 118
hides and 2 virgates, but under
William the Conqueror at only 88½
hides less 1 virgate.
Index Map to the Hundred of Compton
The exact site of Nachededorne,
which gave the name to the hundred, cannot be identified. (fn. 1) The
manor of Nachededorne no doubt
afterwards Combined with the Domesday holding of Compton to form the
later manor of Compton, and by the reign of Henry II Compton had been
adopted as an alternative name of the hundred. (fn. 2) By the end of the 13th century (fn. 3)
the hundred apparently comprised only the parishes of Aldworth, Brightwalton, Chilton, East Ilsley, West Compton and West Ilsley. Yattendon
had probably been annexed before this date to Faircross Hundred, and
Brightwalton, though included in 1307, was in 1316 (fn. 4) entered as a liberty
of the Abbot of Battle, but again included in 1337. (fn. 5) The omission of
Catmore and Farnborough at this date is not explained, as both are included
later. (fn. 6) Thus by the middle of the 14th century the area corresponded with
the modern hundred, and no further alterations appear to have taken place
in it during the following centuries. (fn. 7)
West Ilsley was geldable with the hundred of Compton until the date
of the battle of Lewes, when it was withdrawn by Simon de Montfort, then
overlord. (fn. 8)
The hundred was appurtenant to the royal manor of Compton. It
was held in 1227 by the Bishop of Salisbury of the gift of Joan de Malesmains, (fn. 9) who held part of the original manor at that date, but in the reign of
Edward I the hundred was claimed by the Prioress of Kington, who held
the other part. She, however, did not know at what date it had come
into her possession. (fn. 10) She probably made good her claim to it, for in 1291
she conveyed it to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, (fn. 11) and it has remained
with that see to the present day. It was leased out to the Pottingers for
many generations, (fn. 12) and appears with the manor of Compton in a settlement
made by Richard Pottinger in 1776. (fn. 13)
A rent of £2 9s. out of the hundred was conveyed in 1687 by Thomas
Loder to Sir Jonathan Raymond, (fn. 14) then lord of the manor of Farnborough, and
was inherited by Elizabeth Raymond, who with her husband John Craven
was holding it in 1770. (fn. 15)