Seckloe

At some point in the 10th Century the idea of the Hundred Court emerged. An area of 100 hides was designated with a meeting place where legal and fiscal transactions could take place. The Seckloe Hundred (It is variously spelled) comprised Newton [Longeville], [Water] Eaton, Simpson, Loughton, Woughton, Woolstone, Willen, Great Linford, Bradwell, Wolverton, Calverton and Shenley. Seckloe was chosen as the meeting place and gave its name to the hundred.

Seckloe Hill is now the site of the Milton Keynes Library. It is the highest central point at 366 feet above sea level and was in the south west corner of Bradwell Common.

Seckloe is likely named after a person - Segg's Low (hlaew). A "Low" in Saxon times meant an low hill or mound. We tend nowadays to think of low as the opposite of high, but the original meaning of the word was a rise of some sort, but not high. It is possible that Segg or Secca built a mound and fortified it as a dwelling. The mound that has been replicated in Central Milton Keynes is not large and was probably no more than a thane's domestic enclosure. Centrally placed mounds were the most common places for the hundred meetings and as can be seen from the map, Seckloe is central.
Those in Newton Longville and Stoke Hammond had a little further to travel, but the extra mile or two was probably not considered a hardship. On older maps you can see that a lot of the old trackways led to Secklow. It may not have been so remote after all.

It is interesting that very few of these places actually developed into more significant places. Food production and trade and commerce were done elsewhere and this suggests that places like Seckloe were purely used for administrative functions.

In the 13th Century hundreds were organized into larger administrative units, usually by putting three together. Thus the Seckloe, Moulsoe and Bunsty Hundreds were amalgamated into the Newport Hundreds. Henceforth meetings were held in Newport and the older places dwindled in importance.

You might ask why these meeting places were in "the middle of nowhere"? Well the fact is that our ancestors did not necessarily see towns and cities as the best way of organizing society. The Romans and earlier Mediterranean civilazations did organize around urban centres, but after the collapse of the Roman Empire there was a general ruralization of Europe and North Africa. Once thriving and quite large cities were abandoned all over the Mediterranean world and Western europe. Silchester in England is a good example.

Our Saxon forbears were not conditioned to towns - of which there were very few- and saw nothing out of the ordinary in meeting at a remote place to conduct business.

Until 40 years ago, Seckloe was about as remote as you could get in Milton Keynes. One lane led to Loughton and the other to the village of Bradwell. There was a farm track that led you down to the Linford - Woolstone road, but I suspect it was little used. None of this is recognisable today after 40 years of urban development. Now, for totemic reasons, the mound is at the very heart of Milton Keynes.