Blything was a hundred of eastern Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, and with an area of 87641 acres (354.7 km²) was the largest of Suffolk's 21 hundreds.

The origins of the hundred centre around the ancient royal estate of Blythburgh

Blythburgh

Blythburgh is a small English village in an area known as the Sandlings, part of the Suffolk heritage coast. Located close to an area of flooded marshland and mud-flats, in 2007 its population was estimated to be 300. Blythburgh is best known for its church, Holy Trinity, internationally known as...

, whose hall housed the hundred's central meeting place.

Listed as Blidinga in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

, the hundred's name means "the people of the Blyth" a subgroup of the Iceni

Iceni

The Iceni or Eceni were a British tribe who inhabited an area of East Anglia corresponding roughly to the modern-day county of Norfolk between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD...

 who populated the valleys of the River Blyth

River Blyth, Suffolk

The River Blyth is a river in Suffolk, England, with a tidal estuary between Southwold and Walberswick.It can be crossed by pedestrians by a public footbridge called the Bailey Bridge about a mile upstream from the sea or by the Walberswick rowing boat ferry between 9am-5pm daily.The estuary mouth...

; the hundred corresponds closely to the drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 of the River Blyth together with other minor rivers. The name "Blyth" itself means "blithe" or "pleasant" and shares its name with a river in Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

.

Parishes

Blything Hundred consisted of the following parishes:

Parish	Area (acres)
Aldringham Aldringham Aldringham is a village in Suffolk, England. The village is located 1 mile south of Leiston and 3 miles northwest of Aldeburgh close to the North Sea coast. The parish includes the coastal village of Thorpeness. The mid-2005 population estimate for Aldringham cum Thorpe parish was...	628
Benacre	2576
Blythburgh Blythburgh Blythburgh is a small English village in an area known as the Sandlings, part of the Suffolk heritage coast. Located close to an area of flooded marshland and mud-flats, in 2007 its population was estimated to be 300. Blythburgh is best known for its church, Holy Trinity, internationally known as...	4111
Blythford	1373
Bramfield Bramfield, Suffolk Bramfield is a small village in the county of Suffolk, England. The village is found off the A12 road, one of the main arterial routes through the county....	2547
Brampton Brampton, Suffolk Brampton is a village in Suffolk, England, located approximately four miles north east of Halesworth, five miles south of Beccles and nine miles south west of Lowestoft. The mid-2005 population estimate for Brampton with Stoven parish was 460...	1967
Chediston Chediston Chediston is a village and a civil parish on the B1123 road, in the Suffolk Coastal District, in the English county of Suffolk. It is 2 miles W. of Halesworth, its post town. Chediston has a church...	2378
Cookley Cookley, Suffolk Cookley is a village and a civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district, in the county of Suffolk, England. Nearby settlements include the town of Halesworth and the village of Walpole. It has a church called Church of St Michael.- External links :*...	1552
Covehithe Covehithe Covehithe, formerly North Hales, is a hamlet in a parish in Blything district, Suffolk, England. Lying on the coast around North-east of Southwold,also 8 miles South from the town of Lowestoft...	1524
Cratfield Cratfield Cratfield is a village in northern Suffolk, England.Neighbouring villages include Laxfield, Metfield, Cookley, Huntingfield, Heveningham. The nearest town, Halesworth, is approximately 5 miles away. Southwold is a popular, nearby coastal town. The market town of Framlingham is also close...	2000
Darsham Darsham Darsham is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located approximately north east of Saxmundham. The village is bypassed by the A12 and is served by Darsham railway station, which is approximately one mile away from the village centre, on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line.The name of the...	1493
Dunwich Dunwich Dunwich is a small town in Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB.Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia 1500 years ago but the harbour and most of the town have since disappeared due to coastal erosion. Its decline began in 1286 when a sea surge hit the East Anglian coast, and...	1334
Easton Bavents Easton Bavents Easton Bavents is a hamlet in Waveney District and the ceremonial county of Suffolk in England. It was once the most easterly ecclesiastical parish in England; a map of Suffolk dated around 1610 shows a headland projecting eastwards into the sea there...	260
Frostenden Frostenden Frostenden is a small village in Suffolk, England. Its church, All Saints, is one of 38 existing round-tower churches in Suffolk. It is situated west to the A 12 and can be seen from this major road.-External links:*, a round-tower church...	1292
Halesworth Halesworth Halesworth is a small market town in the northeastern corner of Suffolk, England. It is located south west of Lowestoft, and straddles the River Blyth, 9 miles upstream from Southwold. The town is served by Halesworth railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line...	1420
Henham	1500
Heveningham Heveningham Heveningham is a village and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located four miles south-west of Halesworth, in 2005 it had a population of 120....	1900
Henstead Henstead Henstead is near Kessingland and the A12 in Suffolk in England. It has a church called Church of St Mary which is a Grade I listed building.In 1771 the landscape artist, Thomas Hearne spent six weeks with the young George Beaumont in Henstead at the home of the latters tutor at Eton, Revd Charles...	1920
Hulverstreet	293
Holton Holton, Suffolk Holton, in Suffolk, England, is a village near to the town of Halesworth with a population of around 1,100. Holton is split into two parts, Upper Holton and Holton.-History:Although it often referred to as Holton St...	1132
Huntingfield Huntingfield, Suffolk Huntingfield is a village near the B1117 road, in the Suffolk Coastal district, in the county of Suffolk, England close to the source of the river Blyth. Nearby settlements include the town of Halesworth and the villages of Walpole, Heveningham and Cookley....	2011
Knodishall Knodishall Knodishall is a village in Suffolk, England. The village is located southeast of Saxmundham and southwest of Leiston, its post town. Most of the village is now in Coldfair Green, with only a few houses remaining in the original village by the parish church of St Lawrence.-Community:The village...	1731
Leiston Leiston Leiston is a town in eastern Suffolk, England. It is situated near Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, about from the North Sea coast and is northeast of Ipswich and northeast from London...	4966
Linstead Magna Linstead Magna Linstead Magna is a civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 its population was 60. It shares a parish council with nearby Chediston and Linstead Parva.-External links:*...	1304
Linstead Parva Linstead Parva Linstead Parva is a small village and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 its population was 90, making it larger than neighbouring Linstead Magna. It shares a parish council with Linstead Magna and nearby Chediston.-External links:*...	554
Middleton cum Fordley Middleton, Suffolk Middleton is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located approximately north-west of Leiston, north east of Saxmundham and from the Suffolk coast. The village is on the B1122 east of Yoxford and had a population of 359 at the 2001 census....	2024
Peasenhall Peasenhall Peasenhall is a village and a civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal District, in the English county of Suffolk. It was the location of the Peasenhall Murder.- Amenities :...	1972
Reydon Reydon Reydon is a village and civil parish, north-west from Southwold and south east of Wangford in Waveney District and the ceremonial county of Suffolk in England. It has a population of 2,567....	2675
Rumburgh Rumburgh Rumburgh is a village in Suffolk in England.-Etymology:Its name is first found in is this entry in Latin in the Register of St Benet's Abbey of Hulme near Horning north of Norwich, which can be dated to 1047-64: ... in cella quadam que Romburch dicitur ... = "in a certain cell which is called...	1370
Sibton Sibton Sibton is a village and a civil parish on the A1120 road, in the Suffolk Coastal District, in the English county of Suffolk. It is near the towns of Saxmundham and Halesworth, the village of Peasenhall and the hamlet of Sibton Green...	2680
Sotherton Sotherton Sotherton is a dispersed village in Suffolk, England, located approximately 7 miles south of Beccles and 3¾ miles north east of Halesworth close to the A145. The mid-2005 population estimate for Sotherton parish was 70...	1084
South Cove	1198
Southwold Southwold Southwold is a town on the North Sea coast, in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is around south of Lowestoft and north-east...	632
Spexhall Spexhall Spexhall is a village in the north east corner of the English county of Suffolk. It has a few basic services, including a village hall and a parish church, which was originally built as a cell of Rumburgh Priory.-External links:* * *...	1482
Stoven Stoven Stoven is a village in Suffolk, England, located approximately 4½ miles north east of Halesworth and 5½ miles south of Beccles. The mid-2005 population estimate for Brampton with Stoven parish was 460. Brampton is located just to the west, Uggeshall to the south and Sotterley to the north.The...	762
Theberton Theberton Theberton is a village in Suffolk, England. It is located northeast of Saxmundham, its post town. Located within the village is a National school for both sexes and Theberton Hall...	2050
Thorington Thorington Thorington is a village and a civil parish in the in the hundred of Blything, in the Suffolk Coastal District, in the English county of Suffolk. For transport there is the A12 road nearby. Nearby settlements include the town of Halesworth and the villages of Wenhaston and Blackheath...	1411
Ubbeston Ubbeston Ubbeston is a village and a civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district, in the county of Suffolk, England. Nearby settlements include the town of Halesworth, the village of Heveningham and the hamlet of Ubbeston Green....	1207
Uggeshall Uggeshall Uggeshall is a village in Suffolk, England, located approximately 6 miles south of Beccles and 4 miles north east of Halesworth close to the A145. The mid-2005 population estimate for Uggeshall parish was 170. Sotherton is located just to the south-west, Wangford to the south-east and Brampton...	1455
Walberswick Walberswick Walberswick is a village on the Suffolk coast in England, across the River Blyth from Southwold. Coastal erosion and the shifting of the mouth of the River Blyth meant that the neighbouring town of Dunwich was lost as a port in the last years of the 13th century...	1771
Walpole Walpole, Suffolk Walpole is a village and a parish in Suffolk, England. Walpole has a chapel called Walpole Old Chapel and a primary school called Cookley and Walpole CEVC Primary School. The village is on the River Blyth. Nearby settlements include the town of Halesworth and the village of Cookley. It is in the...	1624
Wangford Wangford Wangford is a village in Suffolk, England, just off the A12 trunk road on the edge of the Henham Park estate just outside Southwold. .Wangford is connected to the rest of Suffolk by two main roads...	829
Wenhaston Wenhaston Wenhaston is a small village of 818 people situated to the south of the River Blyth in northeastern Suffolk, England. Roman coins, pottery and building materials unearthed in local fields indicate the existence of a settlement at Wenhaston from the 1st century AD, and indeed this was probably a...	2327
Westhall Westhall Westhall is a village in Suffolk, England about north east of Halesworth, south west of Brampton and south of Beccles, close to the A145. The mid-2005 population estimate for Westhall parish was 390. Sotherton is located to the south east and Holton to the south west.The village church, which...	2194
Westleton Westleton Westleton is a village in the English county of Suffolk. It is located north of Leiston and miles north-east of Saxmundham near the North Sea coast. The village is on the edge of the Suffolk Sandlings, an area of lowland heathland...	6103
Wissett Wissett Wissett is a village and parish in the Waveney district of Suffolk, England located at 52.35N 01.46E TM3679 about 2 km northwest of Halesworth. Historically, it was in the hundred of Blything. It has a population of about 200....	2260
Wrentham Wrentham Wrentham may refer to:Places:*Wrentham, Alberta, Canada*Wrentham, Suffolk, England*Wrentham, Massachusetts, United States of AmericaOther:*HMS Wrentham , a Royal Navy minesweeper...	1280
Yoxford Yoxford Yoxford is a village in the east of Suffolk, England close to the Heritage Coast, Minsmere Reserve , Aldeburgh and Southwold.-Location and features:...	2670

External links

• Blything Hundred: A study in the Development of Settlement, 400-1400 AD
• Blything Hundred wiki