Didsbury

Recorded in several spellings including Didsbury, Didsberry, Didsberie, Didsburie, Didesburye and no doubt others, this is an English surname. It is locational and rather unusual in that it is well recorded in its own county of Cheshire and particularly in the surrounding towns of Frodsham, Mottram, and Stockport. An early recording being that of Ellyn Didsburye of Mottram on December 30th 1576. Locational surnames in most English regions, were names given either to the lord of the local manor and their descdendants or to people who for whatever reason had left their original homes to seek work somewhere else. In the case of this name both options seems to be correct. The surname is well recorded from at least Elizabethan times which were right at the begining of church registers recordings first established in the city of London in 1535. Any other recordings prior to this date which may have survived are usually associated with tax and land charters or in this case the Poll Tax. The name means 'Dudda's castle' with Dudda being a tribal name also found in Didcot in Berkshire. The first recording is believed to be Alan de Dydsburie in the Poll Tax rolls of Yorkshire in 1379.