Hagstone

Recorded in several spellings including Hagston, Hagstone, Hagstons and Hagstones, although the latter two are believed to be extinct, this is an English surname. It is clearly locational, and well recorded in the county of Yorkshire since at least Elizabethan times as shown below. It would seem to originate either from the village of Haggerston in Northumberland, and near to Berwick on Tweed, or from some now 'lost' medieval site of which the only reminder is the surname itself. 'Lost' villages and the surnames which have emanated from them, are a feature of the surname lists of the British Isles, and it is estimated that over three thousand examples exist or have existed. Furthermore locational names are usually 'from' names. That is to say names which were given to people after they left their original homes, and settled somewhere else. This also adds to the confusion, with spelling over the centuries being at best erratic, and local dialects very thick, often leading to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In pre 7th century Olde English the word 'haga' described a defensive wall, and this with the suffix '-ton' would suggest that the meaning is 'The village inside the wall', although other explanations are possible. The early surviving church registers include examples such as Henrye Hagston, the son of Francke Hagston who was christened at Kirklington near Bedale, in North Yorkshire on August 31st 1576. Kirklington was for many years the epicentre of the surname, whilst Henry Hagstones is recorded at Thirsk on November 5th 1627, and Johan Hagstons at Pickhill with Roxby, when his daughter Mary was christened there on July 8th 1635.