BRUTON HUNDRED
In the Geld Inquest of 1084 Bruton hundred was assessed for nearly 233 hides. (fn. 1)
The total seems to have included two areas of land subsequently separated from
it, the first named in two contemporary Exeter lists as Wincanton and subsequently
Norton Ferris hundred; and the second, called Blachethorna, possibly the later
Catsash hundred. (fn. 2) By 1212 the hundred comprised the Tancarville fee of Bruton,
Honeywick (in Pitcombe), Milton (Clevedon), Pitcombe with Cole, Redlynch,
Witham, and Yarlington. (fn. 3) In 1225 Discove, Woolston (in North Cadbury), and the
vill of West Bruton were named in addition. (fn. 4) Witham was evidently still part of the
hundred in 1280 (fn. 5) but by 1284-5 it had been omitted and the hundred comprised
Brewham, Bruton, Honeywick, Knowle (in Shepton Montague), Milton (Clevedon),
Pitcombe, Redlynch, Upton (Noble), Wyke (Champflower), and Yarlington. (fn. 6) In
1316 Eastrip and the prebendal estate at Wanstrow were also included and Discove
was named again. (fn. 7) In 1327 Honeywick was joined with Pitcombe and Cole with
Wyke but Discove, Eastrip, and Upton were omitted. (fn. 8)
In 1569 there were eight tithings in the hundred: Brewham, Bruton, Hadspen
with Honeywick, Milton, Redlynch, Upton with Wanstrow, Wyke with Pitcombe
and Cole, and Yarlington. (fn. 9) By 1641 Brewham had been divided between North
and South Brewham for the purposes of taxation. (fn. 10) A century later there were
thirteen separate units of which two, Woolston and Clapton, were tithings of
parishes in Catsash hundred and the prebendal estate at Weston Town in
Wanstrow was considered for the purposes of land tax collection to be part of
Upton Noble tithing although assessed separately. (fn. 11)
Bruton hundred was presumably a Crown possession as part of the royal
estate of Bruton in 1066 and 1086. (fn. 12) Before 1133 it had passed as part of a fee
either to William de Tancarville (I) (d. 1129) or to his son Rabel (d. 1140),
hereditary chamberlains of England and Normandy. (fn. 13) William de Tancarville
(II) succeeded his father Rable as lord in Bruton and was still alive in 1177. (fn. 14)
William was followed by his son Ralph, (fn. 15) but thereafter the family ceased to
have an interest.
Between 1135 and 1154 Alexander de Cauntelo, a principal tenant on the
Tancarville fee, granted the hundred, with the market and other land, to the new
priory at Bruton in return for a fee farm of 2 marks. (fn. 16) The fee farm was transferred
to the Crown on the forfeiture of the Cauntelo interest between 1199 and 1208. (fn. 17)
The canons of Bruton continued to hold the hundred until their house was
dissolved in 1539 when it passed to the Crown. (fn. 18) In 1545 the hundred
was let with fairs and markets to (Sir) Maurice Berkeley, (fn. 19) and in the
following year was sold to him with the lordship of the manor, (fn. 20) and descended
like Bruton manor. (fn. 21) It was last mentioned in 1821. (fn. 22)
Bruton hundred c. 1840
In 1274 the prior and convent of Bruton were ordered not to demand from the
lord of Castle Cary more than four suits to their court each year. (fn. 23) In 1539-40 the
hundred bailiff accounted for perquisites of the hundred and for two courts leet,
together with a sum which included fines of free suitors and money from brewers. (fn. 24)
In 1632 lawdays were held at Bruton and tourns at 'Cats Ashes'. (fn. 25) In 1652 tourns
for Bruton, Norton Ferris, and Catsash hundreds were said to have been formerly
kept at Easter and Michaelmas in Bruton field where tithingmen and posts reported
public nuisances. (fn. 26) In the earlier 18th century the tourn was said to be 'commonly
held' at Catsash, 'an ash tree growing in the corner of a field by three crossways
near Bruton'. (fn. 27) In the 1750s the lord of Redlynch sent men to attend both the
Catsash court and the court and tourn of Bruton. (fn. 28) Later in the century it had
become the practice for the ten tithingmen of Bruton hundred to meet on 3 May
each year at a gate near Pinkwood beside Batts Farm in North Brewham. (fn. 29)
Records of courts leet and views of frankpledge for the hundred survive for the
period 1781-1821. (fn. 30) Until 1801 or later the court met at the Sun inn in Bruton in
May and October or November. At the May court a jury of townsmen appointed
tithingmen for the east and west tithings of the town who served in rotation and
a 'county' or 'country' jury chose a constable and tithingmen for South Brewham,
for Redlynch and Discove, and for Wyke, Cole, and Pitcombe. In the autumn
court the town jury nominated a constable and the county jury appointed
tithingmen for Upton Noble, North Brewham, and Milton Clevedon. Yarlington
provided a constable in 1820.
Edward Cheeke was described as steward of the hundred when he proclaimed
James II king in 1684. (fn. 31) The Cheeke family leased the hundred courts with the
Bruton markets and fairs in the earlier 18th century. (fn. 32) John Sims, bailiff for 36
years until 1800, was succeeded by his son. (fn. 33)
In the 17th and the earlier 18th centuries the hundred constables were concerned
with bridge repairs, the clearance of roads blocked by snow, the employment of a
bellman and the watch, and notably in 1688-9 with billeting and directing troops
supporting the Prince of Orange. (fn. 34) In 1688 the constables paid for the removal of
the stocks from the river at Patwell, in the next year for a new cucking stool, and
in 1698-9 for mending the pillory. A new pillory was built in 1715-16 and pillory
and stocks were referred to in 1737-8. The cucking stool was evidently kept in a
close behind a tenement on the south side of High Street and the pillory stood
near the shambles in the same street. (fn. 35)
The annual meeting of the hundred involved a ceremony with a rod called a
doating or doting staff kept by the constables. Attached to the rod were ten rings
through which each tithingman had to place his own rod of office. (fn. 36) A new staff
was provided by the constables in 1708-9 and the overseers bought new gilded
poles for the constables in 1759-60. (fn. 37)