Dosdale

Recorded in a number of spellings including Dosedale, Dosdale, Dosdell, Dosdill and even Dozdill, this is an English locational surname. It is particularly associated with the counties of East and North Yorkshire on the north east coast, but whether this is its actual place or origin, or even whether any of the known spellings of the surname bare any resemblance to the original form, is not proven. In our opinion the name is a dialectal spelling of Dovedale, although the only place definately known to have been called Dovedale is far away on the other side of the Pennine Range in the county of Derbyshire. The name of Dovedale has nothing to do with birds. It derives from the Ancient British word "dubo" meaning black, or in this case is probably used in a transferred sense to mean dark or forbidding, with the word "dael", a steep valley. Dovedale was an early mining area, and later for a time, so were parts of North Yorkshire. It may be that the modern nameholders are descendants of mining families, who moved from Derbyshire in the 18th century. The first known recording of the surname is believed to be that of Elizabeth Dosedale, at the village of Hackness near Scarborough, where she was christened on October 7th 1759. Other recordings taken from surviving church registers include Hannah Dosdale, who married John Shot at Hunmanby, near Bridlington, on September 3rd 1845, whilst slightly earlier in the city of London, we have the recording of Mary Dozdill, who married Thomas Shivey, at Christ Church Greyfriars, on May 27th 1819.