Stinchcombe

This unusual and interesting name is of medieval English origin and is a locational surname derived from the place called "Stinchcombe" in Gloucestershire. The placename is recorded as "Stintescombe" in the "Charters of Berkeley Castle" in circa 1155, and derives from the Middle English dialect term for a sand-piper, especially the dunkin, a "Stint", with "cumb", an Old English pre 7th Century word deep hollow or valley, a coomb. Locational names were normally given to the Lord of the Manor and especially to those former inhabitants of the place who moved away to live or work in another town or country. Joan Stinchcombe was married to Richard Wallis on the 4th June 1688 at St. Mary's, Marylebone in London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Stinchcum married Elizabeth Mortimor, which was dated 27th November 1558, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.