THE HUNDRED OF YOUNSMERE
Consisting of the parishes of Falmer; Ovingdean; Rottingdean; [Stanmer]
At the time of the Domesday Survey, of the lands which are now in
Younsmere Hundred, (fn. 1) Rottingdean and Ovingdean with Balmer (now
in Falmer parish) were in Welesmere Hundred, (fn. 2) while Falmer, with
Bevendean and Moulston, were in the hundred of Falmer. (fn. 3) There were
three divisions of the hundred of Younsmere in 1296, but the only one to be
given a name was Balmer. (fn. 4) Rottingdean and Falmer appeared in 1316, (fn. 5) while
the three divisions in 1327 and 1332 were Rottingdean; Ovingdean; Balsdean,
Falmer, and Balmer. (fn. 6) By the end of the 16th century there were two 'boroughs'
in the hundred, namely, Rottingdean, comprehending Ovingdean and Balsdean, and Falmer. (fn. 7) The single constable of the hundred was chosen annually in
the following rotation, namely from Rottingdean, Falmer, Ovingdean, Rottingdean, Falmer, Balsdean, and so on. (fn. 8) Falmer paid no common fine, ex consuetudine, (fn. 9) but 13s. 4d. was due annually from Rottingdean. (fn. 10) Each married man in
Rottingdean, Ovingdean, and Balsdean paid 2d. each half year and every
bachelor who had lived there a year and a day 'and hauinge receaued the
communion' 1½d. If any such bachelor refused to pay, then his master was to
discharge the same out of his wages. (fn. 11) The headborough of Rottingdean, in
order to make up the common fine and to help to repay his services, was allowed
to pasture twenty wethers that should be freely kept for him among the flocks
in Rottingdean, Balsdean, and Ovingdean. (fn. 12) Similarly the alderman had the
right to pasture six wethers among the flocks of the tenant of Balmer without
paying shepherd's wages 'or any other secular dutyes therefore'. (fn. 13)
For the subsidy of 1621 the hundred was divided under Falmer and
Ovingdean, (fn. 14) but for the county rate of 1624, under Falmer, Ovingdean, and
Rottingdean, (fn. 15) which divisions persisted (fn. 16) until Ovingdean and Rottingdean
were both included in the borough of Brighton by the Brighton Corporation
Act of 1927.
The courts of the hundred of Younsmere were held at Hunns Mere Pit in
Rottingdean. This pit was described in a note-book of John Dudeney (1782–1863) as being about a quarter of a mile to the east of Woodingdean on the brow
of a hill a few yards to the left of the road leading from Woodingdean to Balsdean. It had been ploughed over and was then a flat of a few rods in length
with a bank on its south side, but the people still called it Hounds Mere Pit and
said that the hundred court was held there. It is mentioned as the meetingplace of the hundred in a survey of Falmer Manor made in 1617. (fn. 17) The pit,
which is just within the boundary which divided the old parishes of Rottingdean
and Ovingdean, may still be traced beside the old road between Woodingdean
and Balsdean. (fn. 18)