Bassetlaw Wapentake

Bassetlaw was a wapentake (equivalent to a hundred) in the English county of Nottinghamshire. The wapentake covered an area in the north of the county, roughly equivalent to the modern Bassetlaw local government district. The wapentake was divided into the divisions of Hatfield, North Clay and South Clay.

Map showing the Bassetlaw wapentake

The place name Bassetlaw means the hill of the people of Bersa. Bersa was an early Anglo-Saxon leader who settled in the area.

The chief town in the hundred was East Retford. Other towns were Tuxford, Worksop and Ollerton (the latter of which is in the modern Newark and Sherwood district).

The original meeting place of the wapentake was Blyth Low Hill,[1] while another moot place was an enclosure at East Markham.[2] At some point between 1610 and 1719, it absorbed the Oswaldbeck wapentake, which became the North Clay division.[3] This may originally have met at an enclosure at Gringley-on-the-Hill.[4]

Parishes

The following ancient parishes were included in the wapentake:[5]

References
  1. Sam Turner, Aspects of the development of public assembly in the Danelaw Archived 2007-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
  2. David Hey, Medieval South Yorkshire
  3. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nottinghamshire" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 828.
  4. Millennium Year events Archived 11 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire
  5. F A Youngs, Jr. Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.II, Northern England
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