Wessex, an old Saxon kingdom, was the first to adopt a system of local government. As far back as the 8th century they divided their territory into smaller areas called Scirs, meaning a shorn off or shard of land. Each new Scir revolved around important tribal towns, such as Wilton (Wiltshire), Somerton (Somerset), Dorchester (Dorset) and Southampton (Hampshire still lawfully called Southamptonshire). Once the invading Danes and warring Anglo Saxons, themselves unwelcome visitors not so long before, declared a truce the Saxons were divided from the rest of their tribes by a diagonal line cutting from south-east to north-west under the terms of an agreement called the Danelaw. The Danes taking everything from East Anglia, the East Midlands and Yorkshire upwards and eastwards and the Saxons moving south and west controlling Sussex, Kent, Mercia and Wessex.
It was then that King Alfred, the most famous king of the Saxons and father of the new English kingdom began to organise the other areas outside of his own Wessex to shore up his defences as much as anything else.
Shires were founded and Middlesex was created a 'Scir', N.B, The word County was coined from the Old French 'Comte' so counties weren't established until William of Normandy had conquered the Saxons in 1066 - although shires and counties corresponded to roughly the same area where a shire already existed.
As the shire was a large or populous area it was necessary for even more localised administration to govern the grass roots - welcome the Hundred. So-called because it was said to consist of 100 hides, a hide being a measurement of land and each hide supporting one family - on average they were around 120 acres each. These areas were given judicial, fiscal and taxation rights and held 'council' meetings called moots - still used as a term today for something that is debatable or needs discussing e.g. a moot point. At the moots laws were formulated and justice dispensed on a regular basis to the Hundred's citizens. Each Hundred had its own special location for the 'moots' to meet usually at some place of historic, social or geographical significance - a tree, a river, a stone, some where everybody knew and was accessible which is why the Moot often met in a location in the centre of the Hundred.. The Hundreds became such an important and vital part of local life that eventually Moot Halls were built the forerunners of the Town Hall or Civic Centre.
To this day many of our ancient Hundreds remain active in our everyday Middlesex life and amazingly correspond to their Saxon counterparts. Spelthorne is the name of a modern Middlesex borough but was originally a Middlesex Hundred covering the same area plus more. The Edmonton Hundred Historical Society is an active and thriving group conserving the name of the old Middlesex Hundred focusing on the history and topography of the original area now administered by Enfield, a part of Haringey, a tiny bit of Barnet and the Middlesex half of Hertsmere boroughs. Elthorne is a sports club, park and railway junction, Ossulston remembered in a street name, Gore a legal district until 1986 and Isleworth and Hounslow with modern identities through towns and a borough of the same names: Isleworth home of Sky TV and Middlesex Crown Court and Hounslow a massive borough stretching way beyond its original locality.