When looking at old maps of Sussex one sees the areas divided into Rapes, subdivided into hundreds. The word “Rape” is the Latin for “To seize” or “To control”, and the Latin for “Hundred” is “Centuria”. It seems likely that as the Romans took control over some land they would subdivide that area amongst surveyors and map makers to measure for tax and to map the fields. The centuriated maps could be joined into one map for the Rape before proceeding to the next. It is also possible that the Rapes were joined to form large-scale maps.
The 1795 map “Part of Sussex” by William Gardner and Thomas Cream first attracted my attention because it looked like a Roman Tax gatherers dream! All the land, (apart from the hills of the South Downs), is divided into small rectangular holdings, which bear little resemblance to the O.S. maps drawn early in the next century. To make such accurate, large-scale maps in 1795 would have been horrendously expensive unless they had been able to copy from maps held by the landowners. However, the Romans would collect taxes that would pay for their expenses as they did the work
Saxon Warriors, hired by Roman Britons, invited relatives over and seized much land, the South Saxons of Sussex! They would have kept many of the Roman systems going and the maps as deeds of property. Some Britons would have retained the skills for copying where necessary but even if they cannot read, maps would be understood! How else could the words Rape and Hundred be still used and applied to areas of Sussex today? Normans likewise, would not want to destroy the evidence of their property and they would keep the system going, the workers under a system they understood.
Ray Packham states that Butting Hill was the “court” for the Hundred of Hurstpierpoint, Clayton, Clayton Wickham and Keymer as mentioned in the Domesday Survey. Genuine “Hundreds” are relatively small areas. The random scattering of that word are an indication that he was copying and the word had little meaning for him but the roads and field sizes could be considered as reasonably accurate for Roman times. He “copied right” roads and fields.
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