| Great Horwood History |
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From Earliest Times to Domesday
Rod Moulding
Prehistoric
The earliest human artefact found in Great Horwood is one small flake from a Palaeolithic hand axe, found at Singleborough. No prehistoric earthworks have been identified with any certainty, although aerial photographs show a possible enclosure in the far north-west of the parish.
Romans
The Romans left their mark on Great Horwood. The most obvious relics are roads, primarily the Buckingham - Bletchley road (the A421) which ran between the Roman town of Magiovinium (near Fenny Stratford) west to the Roman mounds at Thornborough and on past Stowe. It has been suggested that the Little Horwood to Nash road past College Wood is also of Roman origin.
Until the mid-19th century two apparently Roman entrenchments, known locally as the Round Castle and the Long Castle and which were perhaps the remains of Roman camps, were to be seen on the old Common, just to the north of the old Roman road to Magiovinium. No trace of them is visible today; however, their site is still known as Castlefields. At the first ploughing of the Common after the Enclosure of 1842, Roman coins and cinerary urns (for cremation ashes) were found; the coins were from the reigns of the Emperors Philippus (238-249 AD), Aurelian (270-275) and Diocletian (284-305). Roman pottery and tiles were also brought to the surface. Other scatterings of Roman material have been found near today’s A421 and elsewhere in the parish, and there may have been other (now vanished) Roman earthworks. The most striking find is of a hoard of Roman silver spoons and a brooch, pin and ring which were ploughed up in a field south of the village
No archaeological finds or other evidence for the long years after the Romans withdrew have been discovered.
The earliest human artefact found in Great Horwood is one small flake from a Palaeolithic hand axe, found at Singleborough. No prehistoric earthworks have been identified with any certainty, although aerial photographs show a possible enclosure in the far north-west of the parish.
Romans
The Romans left their mark on Great Horwood. The most obvious relics are roads, primarily the Buckingham - Bletchley road (the A421) which ran between the Roman town of Magiovinium (near Fenny Stratford) west to the Roman mounds at Thornborough and on past Stowe. It has been suggested that the Little Horwood to Nash road past College Wood is also of Roman origin.
Until the mid-19th century two apparently Roman entrenchments, known locally as the Round Castle and the Long Castle and which were perhaps the remains of Roman camps, were to be seen on the old Common, just to the north of the old Roman road to Magiovinium. No trace of them is visible today; however, their site is still known as Castlefields. At the first ploughing of the Common after the Enclosure of 1842, Roman coins and cinerary urns (for cremation ashes) were found; the coins were from the reigns of the Emperors Philippus (238-249 AD), Aurelian (270-275) and Diocletian (284-305). Roman pottery and tiles were also brought to the surface. Other scatterings of Roman material have been found near today’s A421 and elsewhere in the parish, and there may have been other (now vanished) Roman earthworks. The most striking find is of a hoard of Roman silver spoons and a brooch, pin and ring which were ploughed up in a field south of the village
No archaeological finds or other evidence for the long years after the Romans withdrew have been discovered.
These Roman spoons formed part of the Great Horwood Silver Hoard. The spoons had been bent to fit into a pot before burial.
Saxons
The first written reference to (Great) Horwood is in a charter of AD 792 by which King Offa of Mercia gave Winslow to the Abbey of St Albans. This charter includes a reference to ‘10 hides where it is called Scuccanhlau or Fenntuun with the wood which is named Horwudu’. The Old English name elements are horh and wudu, usually translated as ‘filthy’ or ‘muddy wood’ and attributed to the clay soils of the area. Nothing is certain, but it seems clear that St Albans must have disposed of the Great Horwood part of the estate before the Norman conquest, leaving just Winslow, Shipton, Little Horwood and Granborough under its control.
The zig-zag nature of the boundary between Great and Little Horwood established by Offa’s charter may indicate that the two settlements were once a single manor, and also that open-field farming was then being practised since this type of boundary is characteristically based on the edges of furlongs or blocks of cultivated strips. Prior to the construction of Little Horwood Airfield the boundary could be traced on the ground.
The first written reference to (Great) Horwood is in a charter of AD 792 by which King Offa of Mercia gave Winslow to the Abbey of St Albans. This charter includes a reference to ‘10 hides where it is called Scuccanhlau or Fenntuun with the wood which is named Horwudu’. The Old English name elements are horh and wudu, usually translated as ‘filthy’ or ‘muddy wood’ and attributed to the clay soils of the area. Nothing is certain, but it seems clear that St Albans must have disposed of the Great Horwood part of the estate before the Norman conquest, leaving just Winslow, Shipton, Little Horwood and Granborough under its control.
The zig-zag nature of the boundary between Great and Little Horwood established by Offa’s charter may indicate that the two settlements were once a single manor, and also that open-field farming was then being practised since this type of boundary is characteristically based on the edges of furlongs or blocks of cultivated strips. Prior to the construction of Little Horwood Airfield the boundary could be traced on the ground.
Domesday
That charter reference to a wood in 792 does not necessarily indicate there was a settlement at Great Horwood. However there certainly was at some time prior to the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Domesday Book of 1086 record for ‘Hereworde’ shows that:
That charter reference to a wood in 792 does not necessarily indicate there was a settlement at Great Horwood. However there certainly was at some time prior to the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Domesday Book of 1086 record for ‘Hereworde’ shows that:
Walter [Gifford] holds (Great) Horwood himself. It answers for 10 hides. Land for 9 ploughs; in lordship 5 hides; 4 ploughs. 8 villagers with 10 smallholders have 5 ploughs. 2 slaves; meadow for 9 ploughs; woodland, 100 pigs. The total value is and always was £7. Young Alfward, a thegn (thane) of King Edward’s held this manor.
At that time there were no fixed units of land measurement but ten hides were probably about 1,200 acres. ‘8 villagers’ would have indicated eight households and thus 30 to 40 people, and so on, implying a total population of 80 - 100. Slaves, although at the bottom of the social order in 1086, had virtually disappeared in England within a generation.
The hamlet of Singleborough, later, and still, included within Great Horwood parish was recorded as a separate manor in Domesday and was also held by Walter Gifford. ‘Sincleberia’ comprised six hides (c. 720 acres) with land for six ploughs, meadow for a further three and woodland for 40 pigs. The recorded population included four villagers, four smallholders and four slaves and the value was £4. Before the conquest Singleborough was held by ‘young Edward’, another thane of King Edward.
Domesday thus provides a picture of an estate with mixed farming. From the number of pigs (which grazed in woods) it is evident that Great Horwood had an unusually large area of woodland for this part of the county.
Hundreds
At the time of Domesday Great Horwood and Singleborough were part of the Hundred of Mursley. Hundreds were Anglo-Saxon land units for the purposes of taxation, the term referring to an area of one hundred hides. For many centuries after Domesday the Hundreds were used as fiscal, judicial and sometimes military districts. These units were thus used for the collection of Danegeld (later subsidies), and the holding of courts for both civil and criminal matters. Originally these were held every month, then every fortnight and eventually after 1234 every three weeks. In addition, a sheriff would tour the county twice a year to hear special complaints. By the 14th century the Hundred of Mursley had been combined with two others to form the Hundred of Cottesloe.
The hamlet of Singleborough, later, and still, included within Great Horwood parish was recorded as a separate manor in Domesday and was also held by Walter Gifford. ‘Sincleberia’ comprised six hides (c. 720 acres) with land for six ploughs, meadow for a further three and woodland for 40 pigs. The recorded population included four villagers, four smallholders and four slaves and the value was £4. Before the conquest Singleborough was held by ‘young Edward’, another thane of King Edward.
Domesday thus provides a picture of an estate with mixed farming. From the number of pigs (which grazed in woods) it is evident that Great Horwood had an unusually large area of woodland for this part of the county.
Hundreds
At the time of Domesday Great Horwood and Singleborough were part of the Hundred of Mursley. Hundreds were Anglo-Saxon land units for the purposes of taxation, the term referring to an area of one hundred hides. For many centuries after Domesday the Hundreds were used as fiscal, judicial and sometimes military districts. These units were thus used for the collection of Danegeld (later subsidies), and the holding of courts for both civil and criminal matters. Originally these were held every month, then every fortnight and eventually after 1234 every three weeks. In addition, a sheriff would tour the county twice a year to hear special complaints. By the 14th century the Hundred of Mursley had been combined with two others to form the Hundred of Cottesloe.
The Hundred of Cotteslow or Cottesloe, 1825.
From Lipscomb, 1847.
The importance of the hundred courts declined from the 17th century onwards, and most of their powers were lost to the County Courts after 1867. The administrative and taxation functions of hundreds continued until the 19th century and, although never actually abolished, they now have no administrative or legal function.
© Rod Moulding, 2012.