Lathe (Kent)

Lathe ( Old English lǽð , Latin lestus ) is the name of a regional sub-unit of the county of Kent , as it already existed at the time of Anglo-Saxons . It was not until the early 20th century that the term went out of use.

There is widespread belief that Lathen were originally formed around the royal settlements in the Kingdom of Kent . In the late Anglo-Saxon period, however, it seems to be a purely administrative name with which several hundred groups were grouped together.

In the late 11th century, west Kent consisted of three lathes:

• Lathe of Aylesford
• Lathe of Milton
• Lathe of Sutton

While East Kent consisted of four lathes:

• Lathe of Borough
• Lathe of Eastry
• Lathe of Lympne
• Lathe of Wye

Here were Sutton-at-Hone and Milton often than half-Lathen.

There were five lathes in Kent in the 13th century:

• the Lathe of Borough and Lathe of Eastry had been combined to form the Lathe of Saint Augustine,
• the Lathe of Lympne was now called the Lathe of Shepway
• the Lathes of Sutton, Milton and Wye now formed the Lathe of Scraye and the Lathe of Sutton-at-Hone
• the Lathe of Aylesford remained unchanged

See also: Rape (Sussex)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ according to the Domesday Book
2. ↑ JEA Jolliffe, "The Hidation of Kent", in English Historical Review , Vol. 44, no. 176 (Oct. 1929), pp. 612–618 [1]
3. ↑ Joliffe