Whorwellsdown Hundred
The hundred and the holding of its court remained with the abbey until 1538, when the Dissolution of the Monasteries intervened and they passed to the Crown.Following his attainder, the hundred returned to the Crown, and in 1565 it was granted to Humphrey Skelton and Nicholas Holbourne.In 1233 litigation ensued between the Abbey and Ela, Countess of Salisbury, the sheriff, over the extent of the Abbey's jurisdiction, and the abbess was forced to recognise the sheriff's right to two 'tourns' a year, to include all pleas of the Crown, the view of frankpledge, disputes about beasts taken against pledge, and assizes of bread and ale.[1] Whorwellsdown was originally the name of a low hill near Crosswelldown Farm, at the point where the ancient parishes of Steeple Ashton, Edington, and Bratton meet.Early records show that the hundred court was held there under an oak or thorn tree.