This most interesting surname is of Old French origin, deriving from the Old French "cendal", sendal, from the medieval Latin "cendalum", related to the Greek "sindon", meaning fine linen. Hence, sendal is a fine silk fabric used especially in the Middle Ages for ceremonial occasions. This fabric was among the material bought for Edward 1, in 1300, when it was also called "sindon", and was priced at sixteen shillings a yard. Thus the surname was an occupational name used to denote a merchant who sold sendal, or one who made garments of sendal. However, the surname may also have derived from a minor place called Sindalls, near Westbourne in Sussex, so called from the Olde English personal name "Synnel", which is also found in Sindlesham in Berkshire. The surname first appears in the early 14th Century (see below), while one John Sendale is mentioned in the Book of Pleas of London in 1374. John Syndall married Jone Hartley on August 31st 1572, at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, in London, and Joseph Sindle married Elizabeth Lambourne on May 7th 1794, at Hungerford, in Berkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Sendal of Suffolk, which was dated 1303, in "Inquisitions and Assessments relating to Feudal Aids", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.

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