Verrick

Recorded in many spelling forms including the dialectals and possibly French forms of Varicke, Verryck, Verrick, Vereckee, Vereycke, Vereker, and the medieval English Warrack, Warick, Warrick and Warwicker. As a surname it can be locational, as shown below, or it may be occupational. There are many medieval occupations which gave rise to hereditary surnames, but perhaps none so strange as 'warrocking'. This was a system of scaffolding by which wedges called 'warrocks' were driven into the lashings to tighten up the scaffold. Although the 'warrock' formed only a small part of the scaffold, it is now generally accepted that the surname was a metonymic which applied to the whole structure. The accounts of Westminster Abbey for 1324 refer to the purchase of 'six pieces of timber for warrokis for binding the scaffolds'. The origin is the Norman-French 'waroqueau' introduced into England after the 1066 Invasion. When of locational origins the name may originate from the city of Warwick, however there is also a village called Warwick in Cumberland which has provided nameholders, particularly in Southern Scotland. Examples of the surname recording include Robert Warrack in the Assize Rolls of Essex in 1285, Hubert Waricer at the French Huguenot church, Threadneedle Street, London, on June 3rd 1604, Isaac Warwicker was recorded at the church of St Nicholas, Colchester, Essex, on July 31st 1727, and Frances Vereckee at St Boltolphs church, Bishopgate, in the city of Lonfon, on September 26th 1731. In so far as the name has an epicentre, East Anglia would seem to be the region. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Warrock, which was dated 1271, in the Pleas relating to the forest of Epping, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as 'The Frenchman' 1216 - 1272. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.