Axstane was a
hundred in the
county of
Kent,
England. The Hundred of Axstane lay south-east of Dartford and Wilmington Hundred. It is called Achestan in Domesday Book, but by the reign of Edward I it was called Axstane.
Its name has been interpreted as referring to an oak bearing stony land, or alternatively a reference to the personal name Acca.
In the time of Edward I, the King and the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
were then its
lords paramount. In the 20th year of the reign of Edward III (1347, just before the
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
) this hundred answered for a total of 14.725 knights' fees.
Alternative spellings: Achestan (as above), Axston, Axstone, Axtane, Axton
[Hundred of Axton in John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales,1870-72]
The hundred included the parishes of
*
Ash
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
*
Darenth
Darenth is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles south east of Dartford and 4.6 miles north east of Swanley.
History
The parish was part of Axstane Hundred and later Dartford Rural Dis ...
*
Eynsford
Eynsford ( or ) is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located south east of Swanley, south of Dartford.
The village including its farmland and woods occupies the northern half of the triangle formed b ...
*
Farningham
*
Fawkham
Fawkham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. Fawkham is defined as a hamlet by Sevenoaks District Council, with a population of 429. Fawkham is a low density, linear settlement along the bottom of a dry chalk ...
*
Hartley
Hartley may refer to:
Places Australia
*Hartley, New South Wales
*Hartley, South Australia
**Electoral district of Hartley, a state electoral district
Canada
*Hartley Bay, British Columbia
United Kingdom
*Hartley, Cumbria
*Hartley, Plymou ...
*
Horton Kirby
*
Longfield
Longfield is a village in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located 6 miles south east of Dartford and the same distance south-west of Gravesend.
History
The place in Kent is recorded as ''Langanfelda'' in the Saxon Charters of ...
*
Lullingstone
Lullingstone is a village in the county of Kent, England. It is best known for its castle, Roman villa and its public golf course.
Lullingstone was a civil parish until 1955, when it was annexed to Eynsford. The parish was in Axstane Hundred a ...
*
Ridley
*
Southfleet
*
Stone
*
Swanscombe
Swanscombe Help:IPA/English, /ˈswɒnzkəm/ is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is 4.4 miles west of Gravesend and 4.8 miles east of Dartford.
History
Prehistory
B ...
*
Sutton-at-Hone
Sutton-at-Hone is a village in the civil parish of Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located 3.5 miles south of Dartford & 3.6 miles north east of Swanley.
History
The place-name 'Sutton-at-Hone' is f ...
*
Kingsdown
The Hundred of Dartford and Wilmington did not exist at the time of the Norman Conquest, and the parishes of
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...
and
Wilmington were accounted as part of Axstane in Domesday Book.
[See The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 1, author:Edward Hasted, publ. 1797]
The importance of the hundred courts declined from the 17th century, and most of their powers were extinguished with the establishment of county courts in 1867. In 1894 the Hundred was succeeded by
Dartford Rural District
Dartford Rural District was a rural district with an area of in the county of Kent, England. In 1971 it had a population of 64,561 and an electorate of 43,911. At dissolution it was the most populous rural district council in Kent, but had on ...
, which was then created out of the same parishes, with the addition of Wilmington and
Crayford
Crayford is a town and electoral ward in South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the historic county of Kent until 1965. The settlement deve ...
.
Dartford Poor Law Union
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...
Poor Law Union was formed on 19 May 1836, covering roughly the same area as the Hundred of Axstane. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 24 in number, representing the following 21 constituent parishes (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):
Ash, Bexley (2), Crayford (2), Darenth, Dartford (2), Eynsford, Erith, Farningham, Fawkham, Hartley, Horton Kirby, Kingsdown, Longfield, Lullingstone, Ridley, Southfleet, Stone, Sutton-at-Hone, Swanscombe, East Wickham, Wilmington.
The area was 34,139 acres (138 km
2). Population in 1851: 9,869; Houses: 1,852.
The population by parish was as follows:
[Victoria County History of Kent Vol 3, p. 367, publ.1932, ed William Page, ]
The Hundred of Axstane belonged to the
Lathe of Sutton at Hone
The Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone historically included a large part of Kent: the present-day boroughs of Dartford, Bexley, Greenwich, Bromley, Lewisham, Sevenoaks District and small parts of the Borough of Tonbridge and Malling and Borough of Tunbr ...
.
Notes
{{reflist
Borough of Dartford
Hundreds of Kent