Uninterruptedly from Saxon times Kent has been divided into districts called Lathes, and these into Hundreds, and these again into Borowes or Townes, the last being in Kent synonymous and used to the exclusion of the name parish down to the times of Elizabeth.

First, as to the meanings and uses of these three words.

Lathe takes us back to the Saxon LÆth for land, and in Latin documents appears as Lestus or Lastus, e.g., “In Lasto Sanctii Augustini” in a deed of 1347. Lambarde, however, derives it from a verb gelathian, to assemble; while Latham, following the German writer Zeuss, says the TerrÆ loeticÆ were lands given to the Loeti. Loeti is the Roman form of Leute, i.e., People, i.e., the Teutonic mercenaries who were imported to defend the Litus Saxonicum—the eastern and south-eastern coast—which was especially open to the attacks of Scandinavian pirates. The abstruse and involved explanation will hardy be preferred. It is a purely Kentish word.

Hundred.—This familiar word, first found in the Laws of King Edgar, 1000 A.D., comes from the old High German (Allemannisch), Huntare or Huntre. The Huntares in N. Europe were the sub-divisions of the Gau, the primary settlement with independent jurisdiction, a word to be traced in such place-names as Spengay and Wormegay, and even in Ely, for its earliest form was Eligabirig. But why Hundred? Some say each contained an hundred hides of land (but hundreds vary much in size). Some say each was a district wherein 100 soldiers had to be forthcoming in war—this approves itself to Lambarde and Spelman. Some refer it to the original settlement of 100 Jutish warriors, as sub-divisions of the Teutonic army which conquered the Britons. Brampton thinks each was to contain 100 villages. But in view of the historical and legal use of the word one may prefer the number of the freeholders in an area as constituting the Hundred. Thus the great legal authority, Blackstone, says: “As 10 families of freeholders made a town or tithing, so 10 tithings made an Hundred.” Each had its Hundred Court for civil and criminal jurisdiction; each its Hundred man or constable; each its Hundred Mote or assembly or parliament; each its Hundred-penny, or local tax on and in the Hundred. Most English counties were, and are, divided into Hundreds, wapentakes, or wards. So Caxton, writing in 1485, says: “In Yorkshire ben xxii hondredes.” Of these words Wapentake indicates the defensive military organisation of the Danish intruders, and Hundred the more peaceful settlements of Jutes and Saxons. A synonym peculiar to Sussex is the word Rape, the origin of which is said to be that lands seized by the Conqueror were plotted out by the hrepp or rope.

Tithings were the divisions of the Hundred or Wapentake or Ward or Rape, and the term is used in most counties. But in Kent Borowe or Ton or Towne is used instead. A Tything, Freeburgh or Decennary, was a district containing ten householders, who were answerable to the King for each other’s good behaviour. Each tything formed a little commonwealth, and chose its own dean (decanus or chief man of ten) or head, who was sometimes called Alderman on account of his age and experience. Most commonly, however, he was called the Borsholder from the Anglo-Saxon Bohr a surety, and Ealder, head or chief. The members of each tything formed a court of justice in which disputes were heard. Right down to 1836 the inhabitants of an Hundred where damage was done were each liable to pay compensation for it. The tendency of small bodies to take petty and shortsighted views in social matters is evidenced in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, where, quoting a much earlier proverb, he speaks of “Mr. Penny-wise-pound-foolish,” and “Mr. Get-i’-th’ Hundred and lose i’ the Shire.”