Widmore

Recorded as Wedmoore, Wedmore, Widmore and apparently Vedmore, this is an English locational surname. It originates from a place called Wedmore, a parish near Axbridge in the county of Somerset. The village has been recorded since the year 878 a.d. when it appears in the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as 'Wepmor'. This seems to have the meaning of the moor used for hunting, although as usual with such early examples there are differing opinions. Given that hunting was the original and only sport of kings and nobles, would help to account for why such an out of the way place, had early prominence. Locational names are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to move somewhere else. In this case though we do have a recording which was probably that of the lord of the manor, with Egidius de Wedmor being so recorded in the Hundred Rolls of landowners for Somerset in the year 1272. This was in the first year of the reign of King Edward 1st, otherwise known as 'The hammer of the Scots' (1272 - 1307).