Welbeck

Recorded in several spellings including Allcraft, Holdcraft, Holdcroft, Holcroft, Holecroft and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is locational either from what would seem to be a 'lost' medieval village called Holcroft since this as shown below is the first recorded spelling of the surname, or topographical for somebody who lived at a small farm (croft) in a hollow or valley (hol). Surnames from 'lost' villages are a feature of the surnames lists of the British Isles. It is estimated that at least three thousand surnames do originate from such places, of which the only public reminder of the former existencein the 21st century, is the surname itself. As to why these places disappeared has been the subject of many books but essentially it was through changes in agricultural practices, and such natural disasters as the famous plagues of the 13th to the 17th century. Examples of recordings include Johannes de Holcroft in the Poll Tax register fro Yorkshire in 1379 and George Holdcroft who married Elizabeth Courtney at St James Clerkenwell in the city of London, in 1668.