This week I found myself on the outskirts of Coventry, an interesting experience as we were near a place called Cannons Park (complete with a canon from the 1600s) and Canley, having driven along Gibbet Hill Road, and walked along Lynchgate and De Montfort Way. The area around Canley has an interesting history (more here) and I was right to be interested because there was a lot of Civil War action here, just as there was at Cotes near Loughborough. But what caught my eye most was the information board at the entrance to the Prior Deram Park, which talked of the land being inhabited from Anglo-Saxon times, and once owned by Henrys I and VIII. Land around the area was known as Fletchamstead, after the trade of arrow-making which was prevalent in the area.
Here's a few pictures before we get onto the main content of this post:
A beautiful car I saw on Saturday |
The 1600s canon |
The dedication plaque |
Information about Prior Deram Park |
This got me thinking about surnames, and what they mean, and what our popular local Loughborough ones might mean, or where they originated. So, Fletcher comes from the trade of arrow-making, but what about others?
Not quite knowing where to start, I had a think about some popular surnames of which I was aware, and tried to identify where families bearing these names were mostly living. Varying degrees of success with this, so, for example, there were not enough Lemyngtons and Burnabys to produce any conclusive evidence, but other names were easier to locate. Note of caution: this work is in its infancy and I've only checked in a few sources, not comprehensively - yet!!
Adcock
- centred around Grantham and radiating outwards
Adkin
- most popular slightly north of Nottingham, and predominantly between Nottingham & Loughborough. Also around Lanarkshire
Alcock
- Stoke-on-Trent and radiating outwards
Amatt
- Reading, Nottingham, Dorset and Wolverhampton
Barrowcliff
- mostly Dorset, and ranging from Nottingham to Kingston-Upon-Hull
Beaumont
- predominantly Leeds
Birkin
- Nottingham and radiating outwards
Bumpus
- only found in Norwich
Burder
- around Ipswich, slightly in Hastings, Luton, Oxford and Leicestershire
Burton
- Northampton to Stoke-on-Tret to Lincoln to Kingston-on-Hull, and Dundee
Cartwright
- Wolverhampton and radiating outwards
Corah
- Leicestershire & Nottinghamshire
Corcoran
- Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Swansea, Northern Ireland and Kirkcudbright
Cotton
- Stoke-on-Trent and Lincoln
Craddock
- Stoke-on-Trent
De Lisle
- Leicestershire
Dean
- Stoke-on-Trent and York
Eddowes
- predominantly Telford/Birmingham, with bits in Northamptonshire and Holyhead
Fearon
- South of Belfast, and Carlisle
Garton
- Grantham and Peterborough
Grey
- North of Newcastle and between Gloucester and Bristol
Griggs
- predominantly Suffolk, heading towards Peterborough
Grudgings
- slightly west of Andover, mostly Northern Ireland, south of Londonderry, near Enniskillen
Hames
- Nottinghamshire and radiating outwards, and Telford
Hastings
- Dumfries
Heathcoat
- Worcester, Swindon and Wilton
Hepworth
- Leeds and radiating outwards
Hodson
- east of Leicestershire and predominantly Peterborough
Lowe
- band across the middle of the country Birmingham up to Manchester, through Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to Lincoln
Messenger
- Carlisle
Middleton
- slightly west of Kendal and radiating outwards
Moss
- between Stoke-on-Trent/Manchester, and south of Londonderry
Onions
- slightly east of Wolverhampton and radiating outwards
Paget
- predominantly west of Aberdeen and a few near Bristol
Paltridge
- Carmarthen and radiating outwards and Exeter
Peberdy
- Glasgow and a few in Nottingham
Storer
- Leicestershire and radiating outwards
Toon
- Leicesterhire and radiating outwards
Tucker
- Devon
Vavasour
- predominantly Wye in Kent then Leicestershire
Wakerley
- Melton Mowbray and radiating outwards
Warner
- Gloucester and radiating outwards, and Ipswich
Wills
- Bodmin and radiating outwards
Woolley
- Stoke-on-Trent
Ok, so now it's the witching hour and I should be away! I'll update further next week!
You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:
Dyer, Lynne (2018). Popular surnames. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/06/popular-surnames.html [Accessed 17 June 2018]
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