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The Hundred of Keynsham is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. The structure, history, and development of the hundred and its putative Romano-British predecessor, from the mid-4th century to the mid-16th, have been studied in detail by Dr Lee Prosser. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was responsible for the maintenance of the frankpledge system. They also formed a unit for the collection of taxes. The role of the hundred court was described in the Dooms (laws) of King Edgar. The name of the hundred was normally that of its meeting-place.

The hundred of Keynsham consisted of the ancient parishes of: Brislington, Burnett, Chelwood, Compton Dando, Farmborough, Keynsham, Marksbury, Nempnett Thrubwell, Pensford, Priston, Publow, Queen Charlton, Saltford, Stanton Drew, Stanton Prior, and Whitchurch. It covered an area of 24,520 acres (9,920 ha).

The manor and Hundred was conferred on the Canons of Keynsham Abbey.

The importance of the hundred courts declined from the seventeenth century. By the 19th century several different single-purpose subdivisions of counties, such as poor law unions, sanitary districts, and highway districts sprang up, filling the administrative role previously played by parishes and hundreds. Although the Hundreds have never been formally abolished, their functions ended with the establishment of county courts in 1867 and the introduction of districts by the Local Government Act 1894.

References

1. "Keynsham Hundred". A vision of Britain through time. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
2. Prosser, Lee (1995). The Keynsham Hundred: a study of the evolution of a north Somerset estate, 350-1550. Bristol: Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Bristol.
3. "Administrative Units Typology | Status definition: Hundred". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
4. "The Shire and the Hundred". Somerset County Council. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
5. "Summary". Institute of Archaeology. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
6. "Somerset Hundreds". GENUKI. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
7. Page, William. "Houses of Augustinian canons: The abbey of Keynsham". A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 2 (1911), pp. 129-132. British History Online. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
8. County Courts Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 142) s.28
9. "Mapping the Hundreds of England and Wales in GIS". University of Cambridge Department of Geography. 6 June 2008. Retrieved 15 October 2011.

Further reading

• Prosser, Lee (1996). The Keynsham hundred: a study of the evolution of a N. Somerset estate, 350-1550. Bristol: PhD Thesis University of Bristol.

• Hundreds of Somerset