Willwood

Recorded as Walwood, Wallwood, Wellwood, Willwood, Williwood, this is an Anglo-Scottish surname. It is locational and probably from an estate known as "The lands of Wellwood" in the parish of Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland, or possibly from a now "lost" medieval village believed to have been called Wallwood in the county of Northumberland, England, and near to the Roman Wall, or Hadrians Wall as it is often known. The surname is first recorded in Scotland in the year 1422 when one William Walwood was a charter witness. He appears again in 1437, and this time as Willyhame of Walwood, when he witnessed a charter of the Abbot of "Dunfermlyn". For many centuries it is said (quote) "that the family as Walwood and Wellwood were intimately connected with the burgh of Dunfermline, as provosts and other officers of the regality." The name spelling has been very varied and between 188 and 1590 includes examples such as Vallod, Vollot, Wallat, Wallet, Wallod! In the city of London the name has been recorded since the time of Oliver Cromwell with Nathaniel Willwood or Williwood being christened at St Giles Cripplegate, on August 2nd 1658.