Durbridge

This is an English surname, associated with the famous author Francis Durbridge. It is locational from some apparently now 'lost' medieval village or site called originally 'deorg-bryyge' or similar, and translating as either 'Deora's causeway', or the 'Deer crossing'. Either explanation is possible. The term 'brygge' did not originally mean a bridge as such, as few were constructed before medieval times. Instead it implied a highway or causeway, one that was raised above the surrounding level of the countryside. Locational surnames are 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to live somewhere else. It was in medieval times, and it often remains so today in the 20th century, that the easiest way to identify a stranger was to call him or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Spelling being at best erractic and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case the surname is well recorded in the surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London. These recordings include Thomas Durbridge at St Mary Abchurch, on November 11th 1603, and John Durbridge who married Lettice Davis at St Andrews Holborn, on August 9th 1635.