According to the Estates' Account Rolls of the Bishop of Winchester, Bishop Peter des Roches of Winchester planned the borough as a centre for markets and fairs in 1218; at that time the land was part of East Knoyle parish. The main period of building was between 1218 and 1220 and even today, the medieval settlement pattern can be seen: the main tenements flanked either side of the High Street, with narrow burgage plots running behind the buildings. By c.1250 there were some 150 houses in the village. There were 77 poll-tax payers in 1377. Hindon became a parliamentary borough (see Hindon constituency) in the later Middle Ages, and continued to return two members until it was disenfranchised in 1832; it was reckoned to be an exceptionally corrupt borough even by the standards of the time. Its central position in south-west Wiltshire made it a centre of local government: between 1530 and 1660 it was sometimes a venue for quarter sessions and in 1786 was made the centre of a petty sessional division.