Braidwood

Recorded as Braidwood, and sometimes Broadwood, the name of the famous piano makers and which technically is the correct spelling, Bradwood and even Braiduode, this is a early Scottish surname. It is locational from the village of Braidwood in the parish of Avondale, in the county of Lanarkshire. It is one of the very earliest of all Scottish hereditary surnames, and it is perhaps surprising that given its long history, it is not better known. The place name and hence the surname, means the broad wood, from the pre 7th century Olde English 'brad-wudu'. This area of Scotland was for centuries known as the kingdom of Strathclyde, and it owed its loyalty not to the king of Scotland, but to the king of England. This helps to explain the generally Anglo-Saxon locational names in the region, rather than the Gaelic forms of the east and north of the country. What is certain is that John de Bradwod, who is believed to have been the lord of the manor of Braidwood, was a juror on an inquest at Bavely in 1280, whilst John Braidwod also recorded as Braidwoth, was an inhabitant of Vddynston in 1498. In the Glasgow area, Christine Braydwoyd was a tenant of the city in 1521, whilst James Braidwood was a prominent surgeon as well as being a burgess of the city in 1648.