Ticehurst

This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the village called Ticehurst in East Sussex, near Wadhurst. The placename is recorded as "Tycheherst" in the Sussex Assize Rolls of 1248, and as "Thichesherst" in the 1263 Feet of Fine of the county. The name means "the hurst of wooded will of the kids", derived from the Old English pre 7th Century "ticcen", kid, with "hyrst", wood, hill, wooded hill. The first element, ticcen", is also found in the placename "Tichbourne", in Hampshire, which means "the kid stream". The development of the surname includes Jeffrey Tysehurst (1563, Sussex). The marriage of John Ticehurst and Joane Sanysson was recorded at Ashburnham, Sussex, on June 21st 1608. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thankfull Tisehurst (marriage to Susan Wood), which was dated May 15th 1562, Burwash, Sussex, 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.