Skrines

Recorded in several forms as shown below, this is a medieval English surname. It is locational from the vllage of Scrane in the county of Lincolnshire, an area which throughout history has been a considerable source of unusual surnames. The village name is derived from the pre 7th century Old English word "scraga", which corresponds to the German and Middle Dutch word "schrage", meaning a trestle. The probable meaning is a structure made of poles, which may well have been necessary before land drainage, to lift houses above the water mark in winter. Scrane village was first recorded as Scrainges in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire in the year 1197. Locational surnames of this type developed when inhabitants of a place moved to another area, and thereafter were best identified by the name of their birthplace. This will account for the popularity of the surname in Norfolk, and far way in the counties of Somerset and Wiltshire. The modern spellings include Scrine, Scryne, Skrine, Skrines and Skryne. Among the recordings in Somerset are the christening of William Scrine, on February 17th 1685 at Bath Abbey, and the marriage of Timothy Sckrine and Mary Whithill on March 29th 1705 at Kingsdon, whilst Joseph Scrines married Katherine Cooper on May 14th 1738 at Trowbridge, in Wiltshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name may be that of Barbara Scrine. She married John Leake on December 29th 1572, at St. Giles Norwich, Norfolk, 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.