Ganderton

This unusual and interesting name is of late medieval English origins. It is locational, and as such was a place name, although no such place as Ganderton or anything quite like it, is to be found in any of the known gazetters of the past three hundred years. It would seem therefore that the surname is from one of the estimated five thousand villages and hamlets, that have disappeared from the maps in Britain since the 15th century. The reasons for these lost places are varied, and include enforced clearing to facilitate sheep farming with the dispersal of the former inhabitants, or natural causes such as the infamous plague known as the Black Death of 1348 which re-occured several times in the next three centuries forcing surviving villagers to flee the area. It would seem that the place name and hence the later surname translates as 'Gandres settlement'. This may refer to a place where geese and ganders were bred, but more likely the prefix was a personal or nickname for a man called 'Gandre', who owned this farm or settlement (tun). Amongst the early recordings is that of Rodger Gandre in the Hundred Rolls of the county of Suffolk in the year 1273. The place Ganderton is thought to have been the counties of Gloucestershire or Warwickshire, with Sarah Ganderton who married Henry Ward in April 1680, being recorded at Studley, in Warwickshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name may be that of William Ganderton, which was dated December 18th 1616, at Brimpsfield, in Gloucestershire. This was during the reign of King James Ist of England and VI of Scotland, 1603 - 1625.