Much Hadham, United Kingdom

History

Evidence of occupation in the Roman era has been found in the Much Hadham area, including pottery kilns, and a hoard of Roman coins.

Much Hadham and neighbouring Little Hadham to the north are collectively known as The Hadhams. The Hadhams appear to have comprised a single territory in Saxon times, which may also have included Albury and the three Pelhams of Brent Pelham, Furneux Pelham, and Stocking Pelham to the north. The earliest known recording of the name Hadham dates from a charter of the 950s. The name comes from heath ham, meaning the estate on the heath. The 'Much' comes from the Old English 'mycel', meaning 'great'.

The Domesday Book of 1086 records five estates or manors at a vill listed as Hadam in the Edwinstree hundred of Hertfordshire. The Domesday Book itself does not otherwise distinguish between the Hadham manors by name, but historians have deduced that three of the manors correspond to Much Hadham, and the other two correspond to Little Hadham. It was reported that the largest of the three Much Hadham manors had been owned by the Bishop of London prior to the Norman Conquest of 1066, at which time the other two Much Hadham manors had been in separate ownership, but all three manors had been brought under the Bishop of London's ownership by 1086.

From the History section of Much Hadham on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.