Scarisbrick - Name

This unusual and interesting name is of Medieval English origin, and is locational from a place so called in Lancashire. The earliest recording of the placename is listed in the "Place names of Lancashire" as "Scharisbrec", in 1200 and as "Skaresbrek" in the Feet of Fines of 1238, and the name is a derivation of an Old Danish personal name "Skar", with the Old Norse "brekka", meaning a slope or a hill. In the modern idiom, the variants are Sizebrick and Siosbrick. This name is found in Barbados as early as the 17th Century for it is recorded that one William Scarsbrick aged twenty three, sailed aboard "The Paul" bound for St. Christopher's on April 3rd 1635. It is probable that all present-day bearers of this name are descended from Gilbert Scaresbrer (below). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gilbert Scaresbrec, which was dated circa 1250, in the Manor of Scarisbrick, Lancashire, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.