Scotchbrook

Recorded as Scotsbrook and Scotchbrook, this is a very interesting surname. It is locational and surprisingly it is probably Welsh in origin as shown below. Certainly its origin would seem to be completely different from what it appears to record, which is being from some place, probably in the Northern or Border counties of England, where for many centuries, invading Scots crossed over a brook, to ravage and pillage. If however this is or was the case, neither a place name nor the surname appears in any of the records of that region. There are various places called after some early Scottish influence such as Scotch Corner near Darlington, and Scotchgate, a hamlet near Huddersfield. Recent research on this name indicates that it is probably from Scotsborough, a place near Tenby, in Pembrokeshire, South Wales. The first recording of the surname would seem to be that of Richard Scotchbouroge, a christening witness at the church of St Katherine's by the Tower (of London) on November 11th 1627, and that the later spellings developed from this recording. These early recordings include Mary Scotchbrook who married Charles Ashton at Hadley, in the county of Middlesex on June 29th 1679, and another Mary Scotchbrook who married John Wright at St. Pancras Old Church, in the city of London, on October 18th 1685. Robert Hardy Scotsbrook was recorded at Rotherhithe in Kent on March 18th 1810. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.