Bledisloe was an ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, England. It comprised the ancient parishes of * Alvington *

Awre Awre () is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Forest of Dean District of Gloucestershire, England, near the River Severn. Both the parish and the electoral ward include Blakeney, Etloe, Gatcombe, Viney Hill, and Two Bridges. ...

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been Bypass ( ...

History

The hundred was originally part of the

Cantref Coch Cantref Coch ( ) was an area associated with the ancient kingdoms of Ergyng, Gwent and the later Kingdom of Glamorgan. Cantref Coch is linked with the modern Forest of Dean and is defined as the land between the River Severn and the River Wye, ...

, an ancient Welsh land division (

cantrefi A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a Wales in the Early Middle Ages, medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divid ...

) but became known as ''Blideslow'' and ''Blideslau'' in English. The hundred is named after the hamlet of Bledisloe. Once a

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

of the parish of Awre and now a hamlet north of Lydney on the

A48 road The A48 is a trunk road in Great Britain running from the A40 at Highnam, west of Gloucester, England, to the A40 at Carmarthen, Wales. Before the Severn Bridge opened on 8 September 1966, it was a major route between England and South Wale ...

, where the hundred met. The meeting place was a mound known as Bledisloe Tump. The second element clearly derives from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

"-hlǣw" meaning

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

, burial mound or barrow. William Lewis states that this barrow was that of one ''Blīþe'' deriving the name from "Blīþe's Barrow". At the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

the hundred included Awre manor, Bledisloe, Etloe,

Purton Purton is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common ...

and Nass. Alvington (previously a detached part of

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

) and Lydney joined the hundred by 1221.

References

External links

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
{{Hundreds of Gloucestershire Hundreds of Gloucestershire Forest of Dean