Bledisloe Hundred Explained

Bledisloe was an ancient hundred of Gloucestershire, England. It comprised the ancient parishes of

• Alvington
• Awre
• Lydney

History

Formerly also known as Blideslow and Blideslau.^[1], the hundred is named after the hamlet of Bledisloe. Once a tithing of the parish of Awre and now a hamlet north of Lydney on the A48 road, where the hundred met. The meeting place was a mound known as Bledisloe Tump. The second element clearly derives from the Old English "-hlǣw" meaning tumulus, burial mound or barrow.^{[2] [3]} William Lewis states that this barrow was that of one Blīþe deriving the name from "Blīþe's Barrow".^[4]

At the time of the Domesday Book the hundred included Awre manor, Bledisloe, Etloe, Purton and Nass. Alvington (previously a detached part of Herefordshire) and Lydney joined the hundred by 1221.^[5]

External links

• The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)

Notes and References

1. Book: Rudge . Thomas . The History of the County of Gloucester Compressed and Brought Down to the Year 1803 . 1803 . Harris . 113-117.
2. Book: Room . Adrian . Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings . 2003 . McFarland . 0786418141.
3. Book: Poulton-Smith . Anthony . Shropshire Place Names . 2009 . 87.
4. Book: Lewis . William . What's in an English Place-name? A History of England in Its Place-names . 2023 . Brazen Head Publishing.
5. Web site: Bledisloe Hundred . C R J Currie . N M Herbert A P Baggs . A R J Jurica . Institute of Historical Research . 1996 . A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, The Forest of Dean . 9 July 2011 .