Buscombe

This is an interesting name of English origin which has two possible sources, the first being that it may be a dialectal variant of "Boscombe" from places so called in Wiltshire and Dorset and has its derivation in the Old English placename "bors", a thistle like plant, with "cumb", a valley. However it may also be a locational name for a so called "lost" village, of this name possibly once found in Cornwall. This is suggested by the fact that the name is prevalent there. The phenomena of the "lost" village (of which it is estimated there are between seven and ten thousand that have disappeared from British Maps) was as a result of enforced clearance during the 13th and 14th Centuries to make way for sheep pasture. One, William Buscombe, the infant son of James Buscombe was christened on August 7th 1619 at Bodmin, Cornwall. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walte Buscombe, (witness), which was dated February 10th 1539, Braunton, Devon, during the reign of King Henry VIII, "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.