11,148 Global CASWELL Family Members

CASWELL Family History

This interesting name is of Medieval English origin and is locational from places so called in Dorset, Northants and Somerset. The derivation of this is from the Old English pre 7th Century "Coerse", meaning (water) cress, with "Well(a)", spring or stream. The earliest recording of the place in Northants is in the Curia Rolls of 1196 and appears as "Karswell", and the place in Dorset is recorded as "Cressewell" in the Pipe Rolls of 1186, and in the Feudal Aids Rolls of 1316 as "Carsewelle". During the Middle Ages, when it was becoming more usual for people to migrate from their birthplace to seek work elsewhere, they would often adopt the placename as a means of identification, thus resulting in the wide dispersal of the name.