Surrey Archaeological Collections
Surrey Archaeological Society, 2003. (updated 2023) https://doi.org/10.5284/1000221. How to cite using this DOI
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- ADS Collection: 379
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000221
- How to cite using this DOI
SURREY ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS
Hide Hill in Malden and the de Malden family
PETER HOPKINS
The two small fields, which today survive as the Sir Joseph Hood Playing Fields near Motspur Park station, in the London Borough of Merton, and the adjoining horse pastures behind Green Lane primary school, Worcester Park, in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, are welcome oases of green space in the midst of suburban housing. However, the origins of these two fields, and the reason why the parish and hundred boundaries intersect with such mathematical precision at this spot, are as yet unclear. Three possible explanations are considered here: that this was the location of an ancient meeting place; that the boundaries represent the division of former intercommoning; or that these fields had formed an early Anglo-Saxon one-hide holding divided in the mid-12th century. This study also attempts to unravel the confusion that 20th century historians created concerning the descent of the de Malden family who held this land in the 12th century.
