Blackheath Hundred, Kent

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Blackheath Hundred, shown within the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone and Kent

Blackheath is a hundred in the north-west of the county of Kent, now wholly within the metropolitan conurbation. The name "Blackheath" now refers to a locality of the metropolis around the heath in the centre of the hundred.[1] Being the most urbanised of the hundreds it is by far the most populous, with a population of 423,297 in 2011.

History

The name is first recorded as Blachehedfeld in 1166, meaning dark-coloured heathland.[1] The open space at Blackheath was the site of hundred meetings.[1] In the Domesday Book of 1086 it is recorded as the hundred of Grenviz (Greenwich),[2] in the lathe of Sutton at Hone.[3] The hundred comprises the ancient parishes of Charlton, Chislehurst, St Paul and St Nicholas Deptford, Eltham, Greenwich, Kidbrooke, Lee, Lewisham, Woolwich and Mottingham.

The northern boundary with the Becontree hundred of Essex is mainly the River Thames; however there is also a short land boundary as the ancient parish of Woolwich includes two small exclaves north of the river,[4] totalling 402 acres.[5] Also to the north along the river is a short boundary with the Isle of Dogs and the Tower division of the Ossulstone Hundred of Middlesex.[6] In the west it borders the Brixton hundred of Surrey. Within Kent, it is bounded by the hundreds of Bromley and Beckenham to the south, Ruxley to the south-east and Lesnes to the east.[6]

The parishes of St Paul and St Nicholas, Deptford and the parish of Greenwich were included in the Metropolitan Police District by the Metropolitan Police Act 1829, and in 1840 the rest of the hundred was included by the Metropolitan Police Act 1839.

The population is recorded as 121,753 in 1851 and 187,696 in 1861.[7] In 1887 the hundred is recorded as having a population of 234,987.[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mills, A., Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names, (2001)
  2. ↑ British History Online - The Hundred of Blackheath
  3. ↑ Vision of Britain - Blackheath hundred
  4. ↑ British History Online - Map of Becontree Hundred, (1973)
  5. ↑ British History Online - The Origin of North Woolwich, (1973)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 British History Online - Map of Blackheath Hundred, (1973)
  7. ↑ John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales]', (1870-72)
  8. ↑ John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles, (1887)
Hundreds of Kent

Lathe of Saint Augustine: Bewsborough • Bleangate • Bridge and Petham • Cornilo • Downhamford • Eastry • Kinghamford • Preston • Ringslow • Westgate • Whitstable • Wingham • Lathe of Shepway: Aloesbridge • Bircholt Barony • Bircholt Franchise • Folkestone • Ham • Heane • Hythe • Longport • Loningborough • Newchurch • Oxney • St Martin's Longport • Stowting • Street • Worth • Lathe of Scray: Barkley • Blackborne • Boughton • Calehill • Chart and Longbridge • Cranbrook • Faversham • Felborough • Great Barnfield • Marden • Milton • Rolvenden • Selbrittenden • Sheppey • Tenterden • Teynham • Wye • Lathe of Aylesford: Brenchley and Horsmonden • Chatham and Gillingham • Eyhorne • Hoo • Larkfield and Aylesford • Littlefield • Maidstone • Shamwell • Toltingtrough • Tunbridge Lowey • Twyford • Washlingstone • West Barnfield • Wrotham • Lathe of Sutton at Hone: Axtane • Dartford and Wilmington • Blackheath • Bromley and Beckenham • Codsheath • Little and Lessnes • Ruxley • Somerden • Westerham and Edenbridge

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