HARLOW HUNDRED,
Or, as it is sometimes called, the Half Hundred of Harlow, is of small extent, being only eleven miles in length from south to north, and from three to six miles in breadth; bounded on the west by the river Stort, which separates it from Hertfordshire ; on the north, by Uttlesford Hundred ; on the east, by Dunmow and Ongar Hundreds; and on the south, by Waltham Hundred. It is watered by several rivulets flowing westward to the Stort, and is traversed on its western border by the North-Eastern Railway from Bishop Stortford to Hoddeston, but these towns are in Hertfordshire. It has its name from its small market town, Harlow, and is in the Epping Polling and Police District, and in the north-west corner of the Southern Parliamentary Division of Essex. It forms the Deanery of Harlow, in the Diocese of Rochester and Archdeaconry of Essex. The following enumeration of its eleven parishes shows their territorial extent, and their population in 1861.
Parishes . Acres. Population in 1861
Hallingbury Great 2639 Acres, 714
Hallingbury Little 1610 Acres, 513
Hatfield Broad Oak 8619 Acres, 1960
Latton 1382 Acres, 196
Matching 2384 Acres, 665
Netteswell 1521 Acres, 347
Parndon Great 2201 Acres, 494
Parndon Little 522 Acres, 62
Roydon* 2995 Acres, 900
Sheering 1594 Acres, 499
Total 28,662 Acres, 8718
Roydon parish is partly in Waltham Hundred.
UNIONS, &c. Great and Little Hallingbury are in Bishop-Stortford Union, which is mostly in Hertfordshire ; Hatfield Broak Oak is in Dunmow Union, and all the other parishes are in Epping Union, and Bishop Stortford County Court District.
PETTY SESSIONS are held at Epping and Harlow, and Mr. W. C. Metcalfe is clerk to the magistrates. Mr. Henry Sworder, of Great Hallingbury, is chief constable of Harlow Hundred.