(sometimes called a half-hundred). Four parishes starting with Hackney bordered the Becontree hundred of Essex to the east. Finally two of these land-border parishes and many others had the Thames as their southern limit. Beyond the tidal Thames lay the Blackheath Hundred of Kent to the southeast and those of Lambeth, Brixton and Kingston in Surrey. Until Westminster and Putney Bridges were built in the 18th century the bridge to cross the Thames below Kingston was London Bridge. Ossulstone however omitted the City of London in which lay that bridge, as it surrounded the compact city to the west, north and east. Westminster for many purposes formed a "liberty", meaning it enjoyed its own customs as to markets, and freedoms from wider royal precepts and hundred courts. Battles The very edges of the Hundred were militarily strategic and included the sites of all three of Middlesex's known, notable battles: The Battle of Brentford (1016) was a minor victory of Edmund II of England ("Ironside") against the Danes. Towards the end of the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Barnet in 1471, together with the Battle of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire the next month, restored Edward IV of England to the throne. The Battle of Brentford (1642) was a minor pitched battle and royalist victory of commander Prince Rupert. It was less than three weeks after the partial success and larger Battle of Edgehill in Warwickshire. The resultant standoff and retreat to Oxford for the winter was dubbed the Battle of Turnham Green in the next parish of Chiswick in Ossulstone. Divisions In the 17th century the hundred was split into five divisions, which had their own hundred courts and so assumed the remnant administrative purposes of the Hundred. The Tower Division (also known as Tower Hamlets) had significant further responsibilities, as by having its own lord-lieutenant it took on military responsibilities normally exercised at county level. The five divisions of Ossulstone were: Notes and references Notes References External links Vision of Britain - Ossulstone hundred Map of Divisions of Ossulstone Hundred – the map indicates that technically the Westminster Division was an independent constituent of the Holborn Division. Hundreds and divisions of Middlesex History of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets History of the London Borough of Hackney History of the London Borough of Islington History of the London Borough of Haringey History of the London Borough of Enfield History