This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Author: SusanWaterworth73
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.cadwell/187/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
In the Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames Cadwell was said to have been a Norman name
from (Geoffrey or Gregory-I can't remember with certainty) de Cadewell who was awarded
land in Lincolnshire for his service to William the Conqueror. I presume the land included
Cadwell Park which is now a motorcycle racing circuit near Louth in Lincolnshire (UK).
I have been able to trace my branch of the family moving south to London in the early
nineteenth century. They were farriers by trade. My father's part of the family
settled in Camberwell in South London but there was another branch in Middlesex (North
London)
I presume that there was a lot of poverty in the seventeeth and eighteenth centuries
leading to emigration and hence the large number of Cadwells who now live in the US and
Australia.
My father used to say that he believed our part of the family would have been serfs on the
Lincolnshire estate taking the name of the Lord of the Manor and/or the place.
I do not believe that it is directly related to the surname Caldwell or any of the other
variants but they all could well have been of Norse or Anglo-Saxon origin as they turn up
in Scotland, Wales, Northern England and Normandy, all of which would have had strong
trading links with other Northern Europeans.
Important Note:
The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply
to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.
<br>