Dimbleby

Now recorded as Dimbleby, Dimblebee, and perhaps Dembleby, this is a famous and ancient English surname of Danish - Viking pre 7th century origins. It was locational from the village of Dembleby in the district of Kesteven, near the town of Grantham in the county of Lincolnshire. The place name derives from the Norse word "dempel" meaning a ravine or small valley and "-by", a dairy farm or sometimes a settlement. Locational surnames were those that were initially given to the lord of the manor, as appears to be the case here, with the first recording being probably that of William de Dembleby in the Hundred Rolls of landowners of the county of Lincoln in 1272. This was in the first year of the reign of King Edward 1st of England known as "The hammer of the Scots", (1272 - 1307). The Hundred Rolls were a sort of updated Domesday Book used at the commencement of a new reign to give the incoming monarch or at least the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a good idea who was available to pay tax! It is possible that the village was cleared or reduced in size in the 16th century and the tenants forced to leave, as the surname appears regularly in the church registers of south east of England from the time of Queen Mary 1st (known as "Bloody Mary"), 1554 -1558. The first church recording may be that of Arthure Dymblebye, chriustened at the church of St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on January 9th 1555.