Thedwastre (also Thedwestry) was a hundred of the county of Suffolk, England covering an area of 40,362 acres (163.34 km2). It formed part of the Liberty of Saint Edmund, under the jurisdiction of the abbots of Bury St Edmunds.

Thedwastry Hundred
Thurston village sign depicting "Theodward's tree"

The hundred is about twelve miles (19 km) in length and six miles (10 km) wide. It is bounded on the west by the borough of Bury St Edmunds and Thingoe Hundred, on the north and east by Blackbourn and Stow Hundreds, and on the south by Cosford and Babergh Hundreds. It is a fertile district with undulating terrain, and watered by streams which rise within its limits and feed the rivers Thet, Gipping, Lark and Brett.[1]

It is in the Deanery of Thedwestry, the Archdeaconry of Sudbury, the Diocese of Ely and Liberty of St Edmund. It contains no town of any size, but Bury and Ixworth are on its borders.

Listed as Theivardestreu in the Domesday Book of 1086, the name derives from "Theodward's tree", presumably a notable tree where the Hundred Court used to meet in Thurston.[2]

Parishes

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Suffolk hundreds

Thedwastre was made up of 24 parishes:[1][3]

Parish Area (acres)
Ampton 870
Beyton 626
Bradfield Combust 800
Bradfield St Clare 1428
Bradfield St George 2000
Drinkstone 2170
Felsham 1605
Fornham St Genevieve 700
Fornham St Martin 1200
Gedding 502
Great Barton 3500
Great Welnetham 1409
Hessett 1568
Little Welnetham 570
Livermere Magna 1580
Pakenham 3696
Rattlesden 3200
Rougham 3846
Rushbrooke 1066
Stanningfield 1431
Thurston 2400
Timworth 1220
Tostock 975
Woolpit 2000

References

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  1. ^ a b William White (1844). History, gazetteer, and directory of Suffolk. p. 301.
  2. ^ Walter Skeat (1913). The Place-names of Suffolk. Archived from the original on 10 August 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  3. ^ F. A. Youngs Jr., Guide to the Administrative Units of England, Vol.1: Southern England, London, 1979

See also

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52°14′N 0°45′E / 52.23°N 0.75°E / 52.23; 0.75