Grutchfield

This is a very interesting and unusual English surname. Recorded as Crutchfield and Grutchfield it is locational and originates from a place probably called Crutchfield meaning 'The field on the hill' from the Olde English 'cruc-felda'. However there is no such place as either Crutchfield or Grutchfield recorded in any known gazetter of the British Isles, but there is a place called Crutch in the county of Worcestershire, which may just possibly have given rise to this surname. As Crutchfield it is very well recorded in the early surviving registers of the city of London. Examples include Anne Crutchfield who married Nicholas Glen at St Giles Cripplegate on April 13th 1641, (another but possibly the same) Anne but this time with the surname spelt as Crukefield, who married Edward Fisher at St Peters church, Pauls Wharf, on May 14th 1649, and (yet another?) Anne who married John Jaggard at Allhallows church, London Wall, on March 26th 1663. As a change we have James Grutchfield who married Mary Cook at the church of St Mary Mounthaw in the city of London, on January 12th 1752. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to settle somewhere else. Spelling being at best rudimentary and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' forms.