Arstall

Recorded in several spellings including Arstall, Arstell, Artistall, Arstingall, Artinstall, and possibly others, this is an English locational surname. It clearly originates from some place which means the stables (stall) and possibly of a person called 'Eardnop' or similar. This may have been an early Olde English personal name of probably the 7th century. However and curiously 'Eardnop' may translate as 'The hiding place' suggesting that the original (village?)place may have been deliberately hidden. This could have been quite important at a time in history when the British Isles was ravaged by Viking raiders from Scandanavia and North Germany, and who would have been overjoyed to find a stable full of horses. The Vikings are rightly and popularly connected wth the sea, but on land they were equally adept on horse back. However no such place in anything like the surname spellings has been found, suggesting that it is now a 'lost' village. There are estimated to have been at least five thousand of these in the British Isles, whose only reminder in the 21st century is the surviving surname. Examples of early recordings include John Artistall is recorded at St Andrews Holborn, on May 9th 1613, and William Artinstall at St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on July 2nd 1642.