Ridehalgh

This is a locational name "of Ridehalgh" near Preston in Lancashire. The name was originally spelt Riddyhalgh and meant a "stream running through a valley", so called from the Old English, pre 7th Century "rid" - a brook and "holh" -a hollow. The suffixes - hough and -halgh were interchangeable in Lancashire. Thus, in 1682, one, Edward Riddihough or Riddihalgh is recorded in the Preston Guild Rolls of that County. In the modern idiom, the name has four spelling variations:- Ridehalgh, Riddeough, Redihalgh and Redihough. The marriage of James Ridehalgh and Margaret Banks was recorded at Colne in Lancashire on February 8th 1785. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert del Riddyough, which was dated 1397, in the Preston Guild Rolls, during the reign of King Richard 11, known as "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399. 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.