Lampitt

This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo Saxon origin, and is a topographical name for someone who lived near a clay pit or loam pit. The derivation is from the Middle English "lampit", from the Olde English pre 7th century "lam", loam, clay, with "pytt", pit, hollow. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable istinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. In some instances the surname may be an occupational name for someone who worked in a clay pit. The excavation of clay was an important occupation in the Middle Ages, and it was widely used in the wattle-and-daub construction of houses, in which wicker hurdles were packed and coated with clay. The surname is first recorded in the early half of the 14th century (see below), and can also be found as Lampet and Lamputt. William atte Lamputte is noted in the Subsidy Rolls of Surrey (1332). Recordings of the surname from London Church Registers include: the christening of Margery, daughter of Phillip Lampit, on May 2nd 1669 at St. Mary Abbots, Kensington; the marriage of Mary Lampitt and Thomas Wheeler on November 28th 1741 at St. Margaret Pattens; and the christening of William, son of William and Jane Lampitt, on April 20th 1763, at St. Mary Whitechapel, Stepney. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Agnes Lammpit which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.