PARISHES AND HUNDREDS
The countryside of England was historically divided into administrative units called Lathes. These were further subdivided into Hundreds and beneath that into Parishes. No one is quite sure when these divisions were established but they are believed to date back to Anglo-Saxon times so are roughly 1,400 years old.
Most of the western most part of Kent was in the Lathe of Sutton at Hone. The map below shows the division of the Hundreds in Sutton at Hone. Chiddingstone Parish, along with the parishes of Cowden, Hever, Penshurst and Leigh is in the Hundred of Somerden. To see how the populations of these parishes changed over time go here
The most detailed maps of parishes date from 19C .The Tithe Act of 1836 substituted a tithe rent charge for the old system of Tithes and it became necessary to make a map of each parish in order to apportion the rent charge. These maps were highly detailed marking every building, field, road, shaw or stream and are a very valuable resource for historians. If you would like to buy a map of Chidingstone Parish in 1840 send an e-mail asking for a copy to [email protected]
The Lowey of Tonbridge was outside of the Hundred system because of a land grant by William the Conqueror in the 11th Century. Tonbridge, which guards the River Medway, was strategically important from a military point of view. William knew, from his own experience, that invaders came from the South Coast. Tonbridge is half way between the South Coast and London on a major east -west river . For this reason, William unusually overode local customs and established the Lowey of Tonbridge and gave it to one of his Knights who he knew he could trust.
The Parish of Chiddingstone gets its name from the Chiding Stone pictured below. The ending of '-ing' means 'the tribe of' in Saxon so Chiddingstone means the 'stone of Chidd's people'. Chidd, or Cidda, was presumably a Saxon Chieftan.
Parish registers were instituted in 1538 by Thomas Cromwell mainly to record births, mariages and deaths. They started as loose sheets of paper and were not recorded in parchment books until 1597 so few records before this date survive. However, from 1600 onwards most parishes have a very complete set of records which are invaluable to local historians.
Wills and probate inventories were dealt with by eccliastical courts such as the Prerogative Court of Canturbury, the Deanery of Rochester and the Peculiar of Shoreham. These form a second administrative patchwork that , while still constructed of parishes, shows a different pattern from the Lathes and Hundreds.
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