Surrey Hundreds - Making grandmasters from the bottom-up. Run by International Master Mike Basman. This is based on the division of society around 1086. Players are allocated titles and ranks in accordance with their performance in the field of battle - in this case of the chess board. There are seven titles: Champion, Lord, Thegn, Villager, Bordar, Cottar and Slave. The Lords were tenants in chief, and could also be members of the church - bishops. The Thegns were the fighting men. It was estimated that it required one hide (approximately 120 acres) to maintain a fighting man. The Villagers (or Villeins) were tied to the land. They could not leave without the permission of their lord. Nonetheless, they held a position of importance, for they were in charge of a large area of land - on average a virgate (about 30 acres). Next down were the Bordars, equivalent to small holders. Below them came Cottars who would live in a small property with, perhaps, a garden. Finally came the slaves who were in increasingly short supply and gradually faded out in a couple of centuries after 1086. The divisions were not entirely rigid and in parts of England there were also Sokemen or freemen. These were smallholders who actually owned their land and 'could go where they pleased'. But as they were prevalent in places like Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Essex - parts of the earlier Danelaw - but not elsewhere in England, I have not included them in the basic structure.

••• Feudal Grading System

Why use old names?

There are three reasons. The old systems were more logical, less chaotic. Instead of the present day multiplicity of counties, metropolitan boroughs and unitary authorities, we had a single system which recognized the difference between a town (a point on a map) and a county (an enclosed area of land). Secondly, we avoid the problem of a hyperactive government deciding to change boundaries once again, as has happened several times in the last one hundred and thirty years.

Finally we understand more about our county, our town, our area, by seeing how it has developed over the years. It is remarkable that nearly all the main towns of the present day were in existence at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, even though their size and importance has varied down the centuries.

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