An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 5. Originally published by W Miller, London, 1806.
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Francis Blomefield, 'Hundred of Henstede', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 5( London, 1806), British History Online https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol5/pp417-418 [accessed 5 November 2024].
Francis Blomefield, 'Hundred of Henstede', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 5( London, 1806), British History Online, accessed November 5, 2024, https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol5/pp417-418.
Francis Blomefield. "Hundred of Henstede". An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 5. (London, 1806), , British History Online. Web. 5 November 2024. https://prod.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol5/pp417-418.
THE HUNDRED OF HENSTEDE.
The hundred of Henstede, anciently called Hénesteda, or Heinestede, in Domesday Book, takes its name from the Saxon words [hine], a husbandman, and [steda] a place or mansion; and so signifies the place or dwelling for the husbandmen, which shows as if this part was cultivated before the adjacent part of the country, which is no wonder, if we consider that the old Roman Castrum or Castre is in it, which was a defence for them against all invaders.
In the Confessor's time, the Abbot of St. Bennet at the Holm had a freeman, who held 5 acres, &c. (fn. 1) the rest of the hundred being the King's, at both the Confessor's and Conqueror's Surveys, all the churches were valued in their several manors. The fee of the hundred is, and always was in the Crown, and have in different ages been leased out to divers persons, as in 1327, John to de Clavering, lord of Horseford, and it continued with that honour some time; it was then worth 8l. per annum, "without oppressing the country," (as the words of the records say) and the Earl-Marshal, by his bailiff, held pleas De vetito Namio (withernam) and had free-warren in all his demeans in the hundred: the town of Amringhale was exempt from the hundred, as belonging to the Prior of Norwich; as also, the towns of Trous and Newton, on the same account: King James I. demised it to Sir Charles Cornwaleis, Knt. Charles, eldest son of Sir William Cornwaleis, Knt. and Thomas Cornwaleis, second son of Sir Charles, for their lives, and the longest liver of them, with all its rights, court letes, felons goods, &c. at the yearly rent of six pounds and nine pence halfpenny farthing, or 10l. increased rent for the whole hundred, which paid yearly, clear of all deductions, 56l. 9s. 2d. to every tenth, and is all in the deanery of Brook, and archdeaconry of Norfolk.
The annual payment of each town in this hundred to the land tax, at 4s. in the pound.
The quarterly payment for each town, for quarterage, vagrant-money, &c. for a 600l. levy each quarter.