Halfshire


Halfshire was one of the hundreds in the English county of Worcestershire. As three of the five hundreds in the county were jurisdictions exempt from the authority of the sheriff, the hundred was considered to be half what was subject to his jurisdiction, whence the name.
The hundred seems to have been formed in the mid-12th century, by amalgamating the Domesday hundreds of Came, Clent, Cresslau, and Esch, other than those parts where an ecclesiastical exempt jurisdiction existed, which were joined to the appropriate ecclesiastical hundreds about the same time.
Anciently, it contained the following manors:

Belbroughton, Bentley Pauncefoot, Bromsgrove, Chaddesley Corbett, Churchill, Worcestershire, Church Lench, Cofton Hackett, Cradley, Doverdale, Droitwich, Dudley, Elmbridge, Elmley Lovett, Feckenham, Frankley, Hadzor, Hagley, Kidderminster, Kingsford, Kings Norton, Kington, Lutley, Northfield, Oldswinford, Over Mitton, Pedmore, Rushock, Salwarpe, Stone, Stourbridge, Upton Warren, and Warley Wigorn. Of these, Kington and Church Lench were exclaves. Feckenham and Bentley Pauncefoot were also nearly exclaves until Tardebigge was added.
It also contained the extra-parochial places of Crutch, Grafton Manor, and Westwood Park.
By the late 17th century the hundred was administered in two divisions. The court for the lower division met at Churchill "under a great tree".

Halfshire's Exclaves and Enclaves

The following map and accompanying table is a breakdown of the exclaves, enclaves and parishes incorporated into Halfshire hundred between 1844 and the creation of the district council structure in 1894. For clarity, the map and table includes Halfshire's own parishes that were enclaves of other Worcestershire hundreds, and also the location of Upper Arley's inclusion in 1895.
NumberParish/PlacenameCounty and Hundred County and Hundred Notes
1DudleyWorcestershire, HalfshireWorcestershire, HalfshireBecame a Municipal Borough in 1865, superseded by County Borough status in 1889.
2Halesowen Shropshire, BrimstreeWorcestershire, HalfshireWarley Wigorn merged with Warley Salop, plus parts of Ridgacre and Oldbury to form Warley Parish in 1884.
3ClentStaffordshire, Seisdon SouthWorcestershire, HalfshireSeisdon Hundred: the Chapelry of Rowley Regis was originally dependent on Clent
4Broome Staffordshire, Seisdon SouthWorcestershire, Halfshire
5Upper ArleyStaffordshire, Seisdon SouthStaffordshire, Seisdon SouthTransferred to Worcestershire in 1895
6Tardebigge Warwickshire, BarlinchwayWorcestershire, HalfshireAlso formerly part of Staffordshire
7FeckenhamWorcestershire, HalfshireWorcestershire, HalfshireNo change
8KingtonWorcestershire, HalfshireWorcestershire, HalfshireNo change
9Church LenchWorcestershire, HalfshireWorcestershire, HalfshireNo change
10YardleyWorcestershire, PershoreWorcestershire, HalfshireFormerly part of Pershore Hundred, Policing duties transferred to Warwickshire between 1857 and 1899