Hundred of Winterstoke

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|Name = Winterstoke

|HQ = Banwell

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|Status = Hundred

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|Divisions = Parishes

|DivisionsNames = Axbridge, Badgworth, Banwell, Blagdon, Bleadon, Cheddar, Christon, Churchill, Compton Bishop, Congresbury, East Harptree, Hutton, Kenn, Kewstoke, Locking, Loxton, Puxton, Rodney Stoke, Rowberrow, Shipham, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, Wick St Lawrence, Winscombe, Worle, Yatton

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|Map = 1645map Winterstoke100.jpg

|image_caption = A map of the Winterstoke Hundred in 1645

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|AreaLast = {{convert|62,030|acre|km2|0}}

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The Hundred of Winterstoke is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. By far the most important and authoritative source for the structure, history and development of Winterstoke Hundred is a seminal paper by Dr Frank Thorn.{{Cite journal |last=Thorn |first=Frank |date=2011 |title=Defining 'Winterstoke' Hundred, Somerset |journal=Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society |volume=154 |pages=119-164}} Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was responsible for the maintenance of the frankpledge system.{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/types/status_page.jsp?unit_status=Hundred |title=Administrative Units Typology | Status definition: Hundred |publisher=Vision of Britain |date= |accessdate=2010-01-31}} They also formed a unit for the collection of taxes.{{cite web|title=The Shire and the Hundred|url=http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/Shirehundred.htm|publisher=Somerset County Council|accessdate=13 October 2011|archive-date=14 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814143027/http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ASH/Shirehundred.htm|url-status=dead}} The role of the hundred court was described in the Dooms (laws) of King Edgar. The name of the hundred was normally that of its meeting-place.{{cite web | url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/project/assembly/summary.htm | title=Summary | publisher=Institute of Archaeology | accessdate=15 October 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525082817/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/project/assembly/summary.htm | archive-date=25 May 2010 | url-status=dead }}

It consisted of the ancient parishes of: Axbridge, Badgworth, Banwell, Blagdon, Bleadon, Cheddar, Christon, Churchill, Compton Bishop, Congresbury, East Harptree, Hutton, Kenn, Kewstoke, Locking, Loxton, Puxton, Rodney Stoke, Rowberrow, Shipham, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, Wick St Lawrence, Winscombe, Worle, Yatton. It also included the extra parochial area of Charterhouse-on-Mendip,{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10087272#tab02 |work=Vision of Britain website |title=Relationships/unit history of Winterstoke |publisher=University of portsmouth |accessdate=11 April 2017 }} covering in total approximately {{convert|62,030|acre|ha}}.{{cite web|title=Somerset Hundreds|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SOM/Miscellaneous/|publisher=GENUKI|accessdate=25 September 2011}}

The hundred court met at Banwell. An 18th century antiquarian, Collinson, claimed that the name of the hundred came from a lost village called Winterstoke at a place in Banwell parish called Winthill.{{cite web|url=http://www.banwellhistory.org.uk/winterstoke100.html |title=The Winterstoke Hundred |publisher=Banwell history website |accessdate=25 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505181114/http://www.banwellhistory.org.uk/winterstoke100.html |archivedate=5 May 2011 }} The name is proposed to be revived for a new housing development, Winterstoke Village, to be sited on the former Weston Airfield.{{cite web | url=http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/72A16605-E383-4419-8303-330FBFFC30E2/0/20939WestonVillagesPlanningdocumentLR2.pdf | format=PDF | title=Weston Villages Supplementary Planning Document | publisher=North Somerset Council website | accessdate=1 November 2011 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405103724/http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/72A16605-E383-4419-8303-330FBFFC30E2/0/20939WestonVillagesPlanningdocumentLR2.pdf | archivedate=5 April 2012 }}

In the Domesday Book the hundred also included Kingston Seymour (later in Chewton Hundred).{{cite web | url=http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/hundred/winterstoke/ | title=Hundred:Winterstoke | publisher=Domesday Map website | accessdate=25 September 2011}}

The importance of the hundred courts declined from the seventeenth century. By the 19th century several different single-purpose subdivisions of counties, such as poor law unions, sanitary districts, and highway districts sprang up, filling the administrative role previously played by parishes and hundreds. Although the Hundreds have never been formally abolished, their functions ended with the establishment of county courts in 1867County Courts Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 142) s.28 and the introduction of districts by the Local Government Act 1894.{{cite web | url=http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/occupations/hundredmapping/ |title=Mapping the Hundreds of England and Wales in GIS | publisher=University of Cambridge Department of Geography|date=6 June 2008| accessdate=15 October 2011}}

Lord Winterstoke (1830-1911) took his title from the hundred when he was raised to the peerage in 1906. His name is borne by Winterstoke Roads in south Bristol and Weston-super-Mare (probably named after the person rather directly after the hundred).

Winterstoke Hundred Academy is a secondary school in Weston-super-Mare which is named after the hundred.

References

Winterstoke