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March 2022 March 2022

BERE REGIS HISTORY SOCIETY

Parish and Hundred

In common with all other counties in England especially,
the county of Dorset has been divided into specified
areas. The "Parish" was invented first, and was first mentioned under the Latin
name "Parochia" in the 390s AD by the Romano-British contingent here in England.
A "Parochia" was defined as "An area with one church and one incumbent." The
Roman Empire had added Christianity to its wide range of religions in 333 AD and
it became policy here too. Not much seems to have happened as just about 15
to 23 years later all the Romans left Britain. The proper beginnings of the Parish
system began between the 690s and about 750 AD under the Anglo-Saxon
influence, embracing Roman Catholicism of course. The beginning of Tithe Barns
began here by about 700 AD. The expansion across the British Isles was rolled out
properly in the 960s AD, but it was not completed across the country until about
1370 when Edward III was able to focus on British matters. The original Parish
system continued through the rest of the Mediaeval, Post-Mediaeval, Early
Modern and Modern periods, right up until the Parish Rate was compulsorily
ended in 1868 in favour of County Council running of local matters.
The "Hundred" system evolved out of
what was later called "The County
Hidage" which had its origins between
the 690s and about 750 AD. There have
been various theories on the origins of the
Hundred system, but these centre on
there being 100 Hides from a collection of
adjacent Parishes, and/or that anciently
a Hundred would contain 100 families
and "the district that those families
occupied." The Parish was for religious
purposes, the Hundred was for legal
jurisdiction. By the time of the Domesday
Book there were 39 Dorset Hundreds
embracing a total of about 280 Parishes. Later in the Mediaeval period the
Hundreds had Sessions of travelling courts which met 12 times a year on average,
and this continued until the 15th century. They had the authority to try cases up to
a value of 40 shillings (£2). Inflation had been so rife under the Tudors in the 16th
century that these travelling courts ceased to operate. The Bere Hundred, at the
beginning consisted of Bere, Kingston, Turnerspuddle, Affpuddle, part of Milborne,
part of East Stoke and part of Wool, places still reflected in our local church
ministry teams. Small legal matters continued to be managed under the Hundred
scheme, but it was abolished in 1867.
John Pitfield, Projects Secretary

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