Plaskett

Recorded as Plaskett, Plaskitt, Plascott and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is almost certainly locational from a now "lost" medieval place called Plaskets, a township within the parish of Falstone in the former county of Northumberland. This place was recorded in the 12th century, and derives from the elements "plaesc", meaning a shallow pond or marshy pool, and "cott", a house, or in its earliest meaning, a barn or stable where domestic farm animals were kept. The surname is well recorded in the city of London from the Stuart period suggesting that nameholders left the village possibly because of plague, very prevalent at that time even in remote areas. These early surname recordings include those of Jacob Plaskett christened at St. Botolphs Bishopgate, in 1667, Mary Anne Plaskitt of Clerkenwell in 1701, and in the midlands, Matilda Plasscott who seems to have been the daughter of Joseph Plasscott at St Martins, Birmingham, on January 29th 1780. Perhaps the earliest church recording of the family name is that of Edward Plascot. This was dated September 13th 1663, a witness at the church of Holy Trinity the Less, in the city of London, during the reign of King Charles 11, known as "The Merry Monarch", 1660 - 1685. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.