Hagwood

Recorded as Hagwood, Hagworth, and Haggerwood, this is an English surname. It is locational and apparently from a now 'lost' medieval place, or just possibly it is a short form of the Lincolnshire village name of Hagworthingham. This means the place (ham) of the people ( -ing) who lived by the hawthorn (haega) wood (-wurth). The surname however spelt, has effectively the same translation although strictly speaking it would seem to have the more definitive meaning of a hawthorn orchard. In olden times the hawthorn was commercially grown for its 'haws,' which were used for winter food. It is estimated that at least three thousand surnames of the British Isles do originate from 'lost' sites, and often the only reminder in the late 20th century of their former existence, being the surname itself, often in a wide variety of spellings. As to why places have disappeared has been the subject of several books. However in general this can be put down to changes in agricultural practices, the Enclosure Acts of the 17th century, where the common grazing lands were fenced off and tenants forced to seek their living elsewhere, the Great Plagues of the Middle Ages through to 1665, war, and even coastal erosion. Examples of recordings taken from early surviving church registers include Peter Hagworth who married Bridget Gonell at North Somercote in Somerset, on February 13th 1601, and Sarah Hagwood who was christened at St James, Dukes Place, Westminster, on March 28th 1684.