Crawshay

This unusual and interesting name is locational of English origin from a place called Crawshaw Booth in Lancashire, so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century "crawa", meaning crow, and "sceaga" a grove, thicket. The variants in the modern idiom include Crashaw, Crawshay, Crowshaw, Crowsher. During the Middle Ages it became more common for people to migrate from the village often they adopted their placename as a means of identification. In Whalley, Lancashire on the 8th May 1636 one John Crawshaw married Ann Orineroode. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Crouschagh, which was dated 1308, in the "Wakfield Manor Court Rolls", York, during the reign of King Edward 11, known as "Edward of Caernafon", 1307 - 1327. 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.