The hundred of Westbourne and Singleton: Introduction

THE HUNDRED OF WESTBOURNE AND SINGLETON

CONTAINING THE PARISHES OF

Of the two components of this hundred at the time of the Domesday Survey the Hundred of 'Ghidentroi' (a name not found in any later record) contained Compton, four Marden entries corresponding to the three parishes and West Marden, Racton and Lordington, Stoughton, and Westbourne. (fn. 1) The other Domesday Hundred of 'Sillentone', or Singleton, contained Binderton, East Lavant, Mid Lavant, and the great manor of Singleton, assessed at 97½ hides and including on either side of it East and West Dean. (fn. 2) East Lavant, being a manor of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was subsequently attached to the Hundred of Pagham (or Aldwick).

The two hundreds continued to be separate entities for some six centuries, though Singleton occasionally figures as a half-hundred, as for instance in 1262, (fn. 3) 1288, (fn. 4) 1296, and 1332, (fn. 5) but as a full hundred in 1278 (fn. 6) and 1327. (fn. 7) What the significance of the term 'half-hundred' was is obscure. A valuation of the honor of Arundel in 1525 gives the average yearly issues of the Hundred of 'Boorne' as 28s. 8d. and those of the Hundred of Singleton as 12s. 6d. (fn. 8) The two were permanently united before the end of the 16th century, (fn. 9) though exactly when, why, and how has not been ascertained.