Pridmore

This interesting name is of Medieval English origin and is locational from a so called 'lost' village, likely to have once been situated in Northamptonshire, which is suggested by the fact that there are numerous recordings of this surname in that county. The derivation is from the Welsh 'Pridd', meaning earth, soil and the Old English pre 7th Century 'mor', waste upland. The phenomenon of the 'lost' village was a result of enforced land clearance in the 12th and 13th Centuries to make way for sheep pasture, as well as the more natural causes such as plague, and war. These dispossed people, along with those seeking work farther afield, would often adopt the village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Erasnus Pridmore, marriage to Elizabeth Mears, which was dated February 2nd 1641, St. Nicholas, Cole Abbey, London, during the reign of King Charles 1, 'The Martyr', 1625-1649. 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.