Haster

Recorded in the spellling forms of Hastelow, Hastilow, Haster, Hastiler, Hastler, Hasteline and Hasteloe, this is an English medieval surname of at least two possible origins. Firstly it may be of pre 10th century French antecedents, and to derive from the word "hasteur", a term used to describe a particular type of cook or chef, one responsible for the spit roasting of meat and fowl. In later Merry England this was known by the term "turn broach", and it is said that in 1511, the earl of Northumberland had a "yeoman cooke, who did hourly attend to the Haistry for the roasting of meet". An early recording being that of Phillip le Haster in the Hundred Rolls of London in the year 1273. The second possible origin is English and locational, and said to derive from the village of Hastoe, near Tring, in Hertfordshire, but it may equally have originated from a now "lost" medieval village, of which the only memory today is the surviving surname. In this case the village name translation is probably from "heafod-hlaw", meaning "the place at the top of the steep hill", but this is conjecture. An example of the recordings is that of William Hastelow, a witness at the church of St Barthomew the Great, London, on October 10th 1776. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Thurstan le Hastiler which was dated 1290, in the rolls of "The Tower of London".This was during the reign of King Edward I, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.