Turford

This is an English surname which appears to be locational. If this the case then there must have been a place called Turford or similar somewhere in the country, but no such place or anything quite like it appears to have been recorded in the maps and gazetters of the British Isles in the past three centuries. The nearest is probably Turkdean in Gloucestershire which translates as the valley of the river Turce. As such Turce-ford would have been a logical site, and a possible origin of this name, but this is not proven. If such a place did once exist it would now be regarded as a "lost" medieval village, of which at least three thousand are known to have once existed, and to have been the origins of surnames. In this case though an examination of the records and registers would suggest that this name is probably not locational but another example of the surname Turpitt, Turfitt or Turfoot. These are residential surnames which described a person who lived by a "turf pit". Turf was widely used as a fuel, and Stacia del Tophet as well as William Turpet are both recorded in the Subsidy Tax rolls of the county of Suffiolk in 1327. In the city of London Turford is well recorded in the registers from the time of King Chareles 1st (1625 - 1649) with perhaps the earliest example being George Turford at St Olaves Southwark, on April 14th 1642.