Langdridge

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origins It is locational from Lanridge, a village in Somerset, or Longridge in the counties of Lancashire and Staffordshire. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th century "lang", meaning long, and "hrycg", a ridge. The place in Somerset was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Langerig, and as Langerigge in the Hundred Rolls of 1276. Locational surnames were usually acquired by a local lord of the manor, or was given to former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, and were thereafter best identified by the name of their birthplace. The earliest recording of Longridge in Lancashire is found in the Feet of Fines of 1246 as "Langrig", and in Staffordshire as "Langrige" in 1199. All places have the same meaning. Recordings from surviving church registers of the city of London include Margery Langdridge at St Giles Cripplegate, on May 30th 1575, and the marriage of Nicholas Langridge and Jane Bell on May 30th 1598, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.