A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Status: | Rape |
Identifier: | Rape | Number of units in system: |
Geographical Level: | 8 (Higher-level District) |
ADL Feature Type: | countries, 3rd order divisions |
Is a status within: | Division of Ancient County |
A Rape was an ancient administration division of Sussex, these units are recorded as intermediate between the county and hundred. There are six Rapes in Sussex; Arundel, Bramber, Chichester, Hastings, Lewes, and Pevensey. 'Each rape was a castlrey, centred on a castle; each was in the hands of a single tenant-in-chief; and each had its own sheriff, who answered to the tenant-in-chief not the Crown: no royal sheriffs are recorded before the twelfth century' (www.domesdaybook.net). The position of the rapes, each covering a parallel strip of the county, created a a controlled line of communication from London to the Channel. Amstrong points out that in view of the vital position of Sussex, and its ability to control and defend the sea-routes between Sussex to Normandy, the Normans had divided Sussex into these six rapes (Amstrong, p.50). Though there is a view that the Normans only re-modelled the administrative divisions of Sussex, references to rapes within the Domesday suggests an Anglo-Saxon invention but their roots may be as early as Lathes (www.domesdaybook.net).