Worsfold - Name

This unusual name is found particularly in the southern counties of Surrey, Sussex and Kent, as is the close variant, "Worsfield". The names are locational, from a now "lost" village or hamlet somewhere in the counties above mentioned. The placename that survives only as a modern-day surname is a not uncommon phenomenon. Many villages were forcibly "cleared" during the 14th Century to make room for the all-important sheep pastures, and their former inhabitants widely dispersed so that although the place has disappeared from the maps, the name remains. "Worsfold" or "Worsfield" means the "draught cattle field", derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "werf", draught cattle and "feld" field. One "Alice Worsfold" was christened at Ockley in Surrey on the 8th November, 1549.A Coat of Arms granted to the family has the blazon of a green shield thereon three golden vine leaves, the crest being a green wyvern considered to be the guardian of all spirit and knowledge. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Werefelde, which was dated circa 1510, at Abinger, Surrey, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as 'Good King Hal', 1509 - 1547. 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.