Gretton

Gretton
This interesting surname is of English locational origin from Gretton in Gloucestershire or Shropshire, or Girton in Cambridgeshire or Nottinghamshire. The placenames were recorded respectively as "Gretona" in the "Registrum Monasterii de Winchelcumba" (1175), "Grotintune" in the "Domesday Book of 1086, "Gretton" in the "Diplomatarium Anglicum" (1060) and "Gretone" also in the Domesday Book. The component elements of the name are the Olde English pre 7th Century "greot" meaning gravel plus "tun" an enclosure or settlement; hence "settlement on gravelly soil". Locational names were originally given as a means of identification to those who left their village or place of origin to settle elsewhere. The surname is first recorded in the latter half of the 11th Century (see below). Engenulfus de Grettona is noted in the 1172 "Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire" and Richard de Grittone, appears in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire" (1279). In the modern idiom, the surname has many variant spellings including Girton, Girtin, Gurton, Gritton, Gritten, etc.. An interesting namebearer was William Gretton, (1736 -1813), who was master of Magdalene College, Cambridgeshire and Archdeacon of Essex. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Godmarus de Grettona which was dated 1086, in the "Inquisitio Eliensis" of Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King William 1, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Surnames reference. 2013.

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  • Gretton — is the name of several places in England: * Gretton, Gloucestershire * Gretton, Northamptonshire **formerly main settlement of Gretton Rural District * Gretton, ShropshireThere is also a title Baron Gretton in the Peerage of the United Kingdom …   Wikipedia

  • Gretton — El topónimo Gretton puede hacer referencia a varias localizaciones de Inglaterra: el pueblo y parroquia de Gretton, en Gloucestershire; el antiguo distrito rural de Gretton, en Northamptonshire; el pueblo y parroquia de Gretton, también en el… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Gretton, Northamptonshire — Gretton is a village in the English midlands county of Northamptonshire. It is in Rockingham Forest and overlooks the valley of the River Welland and the neighbouring county of Rutland.It is near the town of Corby, and the Rockingham Motor… …   Wikipedia

  • Gretton (Northamptonshire) — Gretton Pueblo y parroquia civil del Reino Unido …   Wikipedia Español

  • Gretton, Gloucestershire — Gretton is a small village located at the foot of the western scarp of the Cotswolds, about 9 miles north of Cheltenham in the English county of Gloucestershire.The village has a small primary school for children aged 4 to 11 years old, with four …   Wikipedia

  • Gretton Rural District — Gretton was a rural district in Northamptonshire, England from 1894 to 1935. It was formed from the Northamptonshire part of the Uppingham rural sanitary district (the Rutland parts of which formed Uppingham Rural District and the Leicestershire… …   Wikipedia

  • Gretton railway station — was a former station near Gretton, Northamptonshire. It was on the now freight only Kettering to Manton line of the Midland Railway. The steps up to the former platforms can still be seen, but the station building itself is in private ownership.… …   Wikipedia

  • Gretton, Shropshire — Gretton is a small village in the English county of Shropshire. External links *oscoor gbx|SO514952 …   Wikipedia

  • Baron Gretton — Baron Gretton, of Stapleford in the County of Leicester, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1944 for the brewer and Conservative politician John Gretton. He was head of the brewery firm of Bass, Ratcliff Gretton… …   Wikipedia

  • Jennifer Gretton, Baroness Gretton — Jennifer Ann Gretton, Baroness Gretton, JP (born 14 June 1943) is the current Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire.She was born in St Ives, Cornwall, and married the 3rd Lord Gretton. Since her husband s untimely death in 1989, Lady Gretton has run… …   Wikipedia

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