Godalming (hundred)

Godalming Hundred was formed as a Hundred of the Shire of Surrey sometime after 825 when Wessex annexed the "south eastern provinces" of Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Essex (with Middlesex).

Related Topics:
Hundred - Shire - Surrey - 825 - Wessex - Sussex - Kent - Essex - Middlesex

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Godalming takes it name from Old English Godhelm Ingus meaning "the clan of Godhelm" and it is supposed that Godhelm was a Saxon chieftain who first colonised this dry land bordered by swamps and a steep valley as he and his folk moved up the River Wey. They would have fought the native Britons who could fight and enslaved those that could neither fight nor run and conquered the area sometime around the end of the 6th Century. Initially Godhelm Ingus would have had a quite an independent existence but the local Lord would have soon sworn fealty to a neighbouring king, be it South Saxons, East Saxons, Kentish or West Saxons depending on the politics of the time. Certainly the area would have been incorporated into Sussex while Ælle was bretwalder and later with Wessex under Caedwalla.

Related Topics:
Old English - Saxon - River Wey - 6th Century - South Saxons - East Saxons - Kentish - West Saxons - Ælle - Bretwalder - Caedwalla

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Godalming Hundred continues to be one of the most densely wooded parts of England and during the Middle Ages was largely covered by the Forest of Essera - a northern lobe of the ancient and vast Forest of Andred. People survived through pig farming and the making of charcoal.

Related Topics:
England - Middle Ages - Forest of Andred - Charcoal

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During the reign of Alfred the Great a defensive burgh was built at nearby Eashing to defend the area against the Vikings in around 885. By 1086 the population of the entire hundred is thought to have been only about 600 people.

Related Topics:
Alfred the Great - Eashing - Vikings - 885

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Under the West Saxon local government model Godalming Hundred would have had a Hundred Reeve and a Hundred Court or moot. This moot is known to have met at the site of the present day Pepper Pot, Godalming in the centre of the town at the junction of Church Street and the High Street. In 1300 Godalming was granted the status of a town with a Town Warden and later a Mayor. It was only when Surrey County Council was established in the 19th Century and Godalming became a "Rural District Council" that the old Anglo-Saxon Hundred Court system ended and the administrative centre was moved from the Pepper Pot to a new site on The Burys.

Related Topics:
Hundred Reeve - Hundred Court - Pepper Pot, Godalming - 1300 - Surrey County Council - Anglo-Saxon

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