Last name: Ashforth

This name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from any of the several places thus called, for example Ashford in Devon, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Kent and Middlesex. The last mentioned, recorded as "Ecelesford" in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, dated 969 A.D., derives its first element from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Eccel" (from "ecg", a sword), plus the Olde English "ford", a ford; hence, "Eccels ford". Ashford in Kent, recorded as "Esselesford" in the 1046 Wills Records of that county, is so named from the Olde English "aesc-sceat" meaning "ash-copse". The others get their name from the Olde English "aesc", ash, plus "ford", a ford. Locational surnames, such as this, were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually in search of work, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. The surname is first recorded in the early half of the 13th Century (see below), and an early recording was that of Ambrose Ashford, who was convicted of being a Monmouth rebel in 1685 and transported to the Barbados as a slave. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Reginald de Asford, which was dated 1221, witness in the "Assize Court Rolls of Shropshire", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Visitor Comments

shaas11
The above, for "ashforth" may be true, but only partly. If Ancestry.Com remembers, back in 2005, they had an opportunity to learn of, "Waldron of Ashfort House". I haven't seen it there is quite awhile. Never-the-less, Ashforth & Ashford & Ashfort were used as Ashforth were deemed, "Landed Gentry", and were born in the era of Henry II, A.D. 1157. Ireland is included. I also found Ashforth Side in Yorkshire, and Ashforths in Pitsmoor in 1699 and before. They changed their name during a religious uprising in England, probably about the time of the Reformation, or sometime before 1840. This is historically true. Too many poor people, too much taxation, etc. SDH