Page:VCH Northamptonshire 1.djvu/370

 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE which here appears as the double Hundred of ' Nassus,' is on its way to become Nassaburgh. By 1316 there had been further changes ; ' Ed- boldestou ' is now included in Sutton, ' Alwardeslea ' in Fawsley, ' Malesle ' in Orlingbury, ' Stotfalde ' in Rothwell, ' Stoche ' in Corby, and the double Hundred of ' Naveslund ' in Huxloe. The accompany- ing table (page 297) will show that since that date there have been vir- tually no changes. It may be observed that those Hundreds the names of which have been abandoned suggest an early derivation and an open-air assembly. Mawesley, ' a hamlet of one or two cottages and a wood,' ' gave name to Malesle. Gravesend, Alwardslea, and Edboldestou appear to be lost names. The general impression conveyed by the names of the Hundreds as a whole is that they point to primitive meeting-places, which were gradually superseded by villages and towns, as the Hundred courts came to repre- sent the jurisdiction of a lord. Baker, indeed, gives (I. 238) an actual, though late instance in the case of the Hundred Court of Fawsley, which ' was formerly held in Fawsley park beneath the spreading branches of an enormous beech-tree,' but ' was removed about the beginning of the last century to Everdon.' One of the most curious features in the names of these Hundreds is the great variety of form which is found, for some of them, in Domes- day. As Domesday Book was compiled from returns which were made Hundred by Hundred, it is difficult to see how the scribe could have before him more than one form of the Hundred's name. But indeed this same remark applies to the case of the vills ; for each Hundred was surveyed vill by vill, so that it is not easy to account for the startling variations in their names, the scribe, presumably, having before him but one form of the name, which would stand at the head of the survey of the vill. » Bridges, II. 96. 298