A lathe was an ancient administration division of Kent, and may well have originated during the Jutish colonisation of the county. These ancient divisions still exist, but have no administrative significance today. There were seven Lathes in Kent at the time of the Domesday Book, which reveals that in 1086 Kent was divided into the seven lathes or "lest(um)": Aylesford, Milton, Sutton, Borough, Eastry, Lympne and Wye. For administrative, judicial and taxation purposes these units remained important for another 600 years, although by 1295 the number of lathes had reduced to five: Borough and Eastry were merged to form the Lathe of St. Augustine, the lathe of Lympne was renamed the Lathe of Shepway, the lathes of Milton and Wye were merged to form the Lathe of Scray. Each of the lathes were divided into smaller areas called hundreds, although the difference between the functions of lathes and hundreds remains unclear.