It derived its Welsh name, Arberth, from the town and district of the same name, which means "(district) by the wood" (i.e. the forest of Coedrath),[1]: 531 and which was the headquarters of the hundred.[2]
The hundred spanned the linguistic boundary, with the parishes of Velfrey being identified by George Owen[3] as Welsh-speaking, and the southern coastal part being English-speaking, part of Little England beyond Wales. The area in 1887 was 55,813 acres (22,587 ha).[4]
The hundred incorporated twenty two parishes.[5] The parliamentary election polling book for 1812 is held at the National Library of Wales.[6] The 1821 census provided detailed demographics for the hundred. The total population was 11,321, living in 2,249 properties.[7] At the 1831 census, the hundred had a population of 11,942 in 2,343 houses.[8] The population was quoted as 11,469 in an 1887 gazetteer.[4]
Land tax assessments for 1857 to 1949 are held at Pembrokeshire Archives.[9]
The hundred courts declined from the 17th century, and most of their powers were extinguished with the establishment of county courts in 1867.[10] Until 1974 Wales was divided into civil parishes, which to some extent coincided with ecclesiastical parishes, and in 1975 it was divided into communities.
[11] The jurisdiction of hundred courts was finally curtailed by the Administration of Justice Act 1977.[12]
