Hitchin hundred was a judicial and taxation subdivision (a "''

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 ...

"'') of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

, in the east of the county, that existed from the 10th to the 19th century. It was also known as a "Half Hundred" - the total size in the Domesday Book being around 40 hides - and it was also sometimes called "Hitchin and Pirton" and "Ippollyts". Hertfordshire Administrative Map 1832

It comprised the following parishes:

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

, St Ippollyts, Kimpton, Kings Walden, Lilley,

Offley Offley is a civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The main village is Great Offley, also known as Offley, which stands on a ridge of high ground. The parish covers most of the area between the towns of Hit ...

and Pirton.

Hexton Hexton is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, about west of Hitchin. This parish is a salient of Hertfordshire jutting northwards into Bedfordshire. The southern half of the parish is part of the chalky downs of the ...

and

St Paul's Walden St Paul's Walden is a village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The village lies about south of Hitchin, its post town. The largest settlement in the parish is the village of Whitwell, and the parish ...

were also part of the hundred until transferred to the

Liberty of St Albans The Liberty of St Albans (also known as the ''Hundred of Albanestou'' or ''Cashio'') was a liberty situated within Hertfordshire, but enjoying the powers of an independent county. At the time of the Domesday Book the liberty was known as ''Albanes ...

before 1286. The hundred court was originally held at Sperberry Hill ("the hill of speech"), in the chapelry of St Ippollyts. It later met in various places including Hitchin, Ippollitts, Kimpton and Pirton. The hundred was owned by the King. Haslam proposes that the hundred was originally part of a larger "proto-hundred" which crossed the Hertfordshire-Bedfordshire border and supported a supposed

burh A burh () or burg was an Anglo-Saxon fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers. Some were new constru ...

at Hitchin. This proto-hundred was consistent with the regio of the Hicce, mentioned in the

Tribal Hidage Image:Tribal Hidage 2.svg, 400px, alt=insert description of map here, The tribes of the Tribal Hidage. Where an appropriate article exists, it can be found by clicking on the name. rect 275 75 375 100 w:Elmet rect 375 100 450 150 w:Hatfield Ch ...

as a Middle Anglian grouping that held 300 hides, and with the territory of the minster and royal estate centred at Hitchin. As well as Hitchin Hundred, this included Clifton hundred in Bedfordshire and possibly the northern half of Flitt Hundred.

References

{{Hertfordshire Hundreds Hundreds of Hertfordshire