Bispham - Meno

This is an English locational surname from either of the two villages called Bispham, in the county of Lancashire, in the parish of Poulton, and near the famous resort of Blackpool. The villages were first recorded in the amazingly accurate Domesday Book of England in 1086, which showed every part of the country and the owners of the land. Biscopham literally means "The Bishop's manor," although this was generic and the probable meaning was "The estate belonging to the church". Not surprisingly perhaps given the church connection, this is a very early surname with Averia de Bispham appearing in Baines History of Lancashire in the year 1288. Locational surnames were those given either to the local lord of the manor, which may well be the case here, or more normally to former members of the village who for whatever reason, moved somewhere else. Other examples of early recordings include Laurence Byspam in the Guild Rolls of Preston in 1542, in the reign of King Henry V111th (1510 - 1547), and Margaret Bispham of Pilling in Lancashire, whose will was recorded at the Northern Wills Registry, Richmond in Yorkshire, in 1670.