Recorded as Rishbrook, Rushbrook and Rushbrooke, this long-established surname is of Anglo-Saxon origins. It is locational from the parish of Rushbrooke on the river Lark, south east of Bury St. Edmunds in the county of Suffolk. Recorded as "Ryssebroc", in the Anglo-Saxon Wills Records of 958 a.d., and as "Ryscebroc" in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, the component elements of the placename are the Olde English pre 7th Century "risc", meaning rush, and "broc", cognate with the Old High German "bruoh", meaning a marsh. The old meaning of a marsh is still preserved in Kent and Sussex, where "brook" means a water-meadow, or low marshy ground, rather than a stream. Locational surnames, such as this, were originally given to local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere. Early examples taken from surviving church registers include: Edmund Rushbrooke and En Lovell were married at Bradfield Combust, Suffolk on Novvember 23rd 1546, whilst on March 25th 1575, Thomas, the son of John Rushbrook, was christened at St. Dunstan's in the East, Stepney, London. Henry Rushbrook, a landowner of some standing, was registered as an inhabitant of Christ Church, in the island of Barbados, on December 22nd 1679. Arms granted to the Rushbrook family has the bvlazon of a black shield with a fess between three golden roses, the crest being a lion sejant holding in its mouth a golden rose, with the motto, "Fluminis ritu ferimur", translating as, "We rush on like a brook". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Rushbroke. This was dated 1362, in the "Feet of Fines" of Suffolk, during the reign of King Edward 111rd, 1327 - 1377. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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