Hurstingstone
Hurstingstone is a hundred of Huntingdonshire that was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.[1][2]
According to the Victoria County History, the derivation of the name of Hurstingstone is not clear; one possibility is that Hurstingstone comes from the name of the tribe of Hirstina (or Hyrstingas) who had settled in the area.[3] There was a stone called the Hursting Stone on Hustingstone Hill which is the highest point on the road between St Ives and Old Hurst; it was here that the hundred's moot was held until it was moved to Broughton in the 14th century.[3] There was a gallows on Hurstingstone Hill.[3] The Hundred was given by Henry I to the abbot and convent of Ramsey c. 1155 in whose possession it remained until the dissolution of the monastery in 1539.[3] By 1654 the hundred was sold to Edward Montagu and has been in the family of the Earls of Sandwich ever since.[3]
The Hursting Stone resembles the shape of a chair and it is also known as the Abbot's Chair. It is possible that the Hursting Stone was used as a plinth for a stone cross around the 12th century when such crosses were commonly erected at boundaries.[3] The stone has been moved and is now at the Norris Museum in St Ives.
In 1870-72, Hurstingstone was described like this:
HURSTINGSTONE, a hundred in Huntingdon; named from an ancient stone near Old Hurst; and containing Old Hurst parish, twenty-two other parishes, and part of another. Acres, 72, 670. Pop. in 1851, 20, 946; in 1861, 19, 961. Houses, 4, 323.
The hundred comprises the ancient parishes of:
References
- ↑ Professor J.J.N. Palmer, University of Hull. "Domesday Book Map: Hundred of Hurstingstone". Anna Powell-Smith. http://opendomesday.org/hundred/hurstingstone/. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
- ↑ Dr Ann Williams, Professor G.H. Martin, ed (1992). Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin Books. pp. 551–561. ISBN 0-141-00523-8.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 William Page, Granville Proby, S. Inskip Ladds, ed (1936). "A History of the County of Huntingdon: Volume 2: The hundred of Hurstingstone". pp. 149–152. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66132. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
| Hundreds of Huntingdonshire |
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Hurstingstone (including Huntingdon) • Leightonstone • Norman Cross • Toseland |