Page:VCH Derbyshire 1.djvu/383

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DOMESDAY SURVEY two wapentakes, ' Hammenstan ' and ' Walecros,' for the existence of which we have no other authority. High Peak wapentake is not mentioned at all ; Appletree wapentake only incidentally in the list of local customs in the counties of Nottingham and Derby, which comes between the surveys of the two shires. After all this, it will be seen that any attempt to divide out the total assessment of the county according to wapentakes must contain too much guesswork to have any scientific value. 1 Imperfect as is the rubrication of the Derbyshire Domesday, it incidentally reveals the existence of another problem which cannot be settled on the Derbyshire evidence alone, but which certainly deserves mention in this place. On page 3 34 there occurs the heading Morelestan Wapentake, Salle [Sawley] Hundred. Now Sawley is situated close to the Trent, which divides Derbyshire from Leicestershire at this point ; and we happen to know that each of the four wapentakes which existed in Leicestershire at this time was subdivided into a number of small territorial 'hundreds,' each 'hundred' consisting of a number of vills, which are sometimes spread over a considerable area and intermingled with other similar groups. We know very little about the functions of these 'hundreds,' but it seems clear that they represent a stage in the subportionment of the geld intermediate between the wapentake and the vill, for the number of carucates assessed upon a Leicestershire 'hundred' will normally be some multiple of six or twelve. 9 It is very probable that this system was not confined to Leicestershire, for we meet with several

  • hundreds ' in the course of the Nottinghamshire survey, and it would

seem as if Lincolnshire was divided in a similar manner, while the existence of the unique hundred of Sawley, in Derbyshire, looks very much as if the system was extended into that county also. The importance of the question lies in the fact that in these vanished hundreds would rest the best proof of the duodecimal organization of the Derbyshire assessment, proof which it is not possible to recover without further evidence than we at present possess. On working through the Derbyshire Domesday, however, the following instances of a duodecimal system lie upon the surface of the record: 'Mestesforde' and its berewicks assessed together at 9 carucates; Walton-on-Trent and Rosliston assessed (together) at 6 ; Repton and Milton, likewise together, at 6 ; Melbourne at 6 ; Bakewell, with its berewicks, at 1 8 ; Sawley, with Draycott and Hopwell, at 1 2 ; (Long) Eaton at 12; Shottle with Wallstone at 6; Croxall at 3; Atlow at 3; Scropton, with its three unspecified berewicks, at 6 ; Barlborough with Whitwell at 6 ; Willington at 3 ; Clifton at 3 ; Catton at 3 ; Tibshelf at 3 ; Bolsover at 3. Combining fractional parts of a vill we obtain: Etwall assessed at 6 carucates (5 + i) ; Osmaston by Derby at 3 (2 + J + f + f) ; Edingale at 3 (2 + i) ; Breaston at 6 (f + + 2 + 3 + J). Still more significant is the assessment of the three royal manors of Wirksworth, 1 It was attempted by Mr. Eyton, but his results are not convincing. 3 Sec for these ' hundreds ' the survey mentioned on the previous pagr. 295