LOCKWOOD
This is a copy of an article published in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper,
on 8th March 1993,
reproduced by kind permission of the author, the late Desmond Holden.
The “What's in a Name” series was a regular
feature in the Advertiser over the period 1993‑2004,
taking a refreshing look at the derivation of some typically
Derbyshire surnames.
Articles are confined to the origins and meanings of surnames,
and do not indicate any particular interest on Desmond's part in
the genealogy, descent, or family history of individuals bearing
the surnames featured.
Editor's Note: Articles are provided for general interest and
background only. They are not intended to provide an exhaustive treatise
for any individual family history - investigations of which may yield
quite different results. Or, in Desmond's own words:
“In the end it must remain with individual bearers of the names to
draw upon family traditions and to seek out such documentary
evidence as is available to decide the matter for themselves.”
WHAT'S IN A NAME …
Are you called LOCKWOOD?
Passengers travelling down from Huddersfield to Barnsley usually
identify Lockwood Station as being the first stop out of
Huddersfield. What they might not know is that it is the only place
in the United Kingdom which is called "Lockwood". That is to say,
the name is original and dates from the Earliest Times and that
other places with the same designation come later in time and were
given the name as a matter of choice.
As a surname, then, "Lockwood" can be nothing else but a habitation
name and since there is only one place called "Lockwood" it is
almost conclusive that persons bearing the name can reasonably
claim direct descent from one family.
The name is made up from two units: "Lock-" and "-wood". The second
unit speaks for itself, being exactly what it says - "a wood". The
first unit, "Lock-" calls some further explanation. The root word
is Anglo-Saxon "loc" and means "an enclosure, a barrier or a yard".
Although very old books use the word "lock" to describe enclosures
as they might be known in farming, already by the time of King
Henry VIII (1509-1547) it was becoming more associated with the
familiar barriers or restrictions on the flow of water on
waterways. Of course it was also used to describe various forms of
fastenings and as a term for prisons. A restrictive grip or hold
used by wrestlers is called a "lock" as well.
So it may reasonably be taken that there was once a family living
in "an enclosure in the middle of a wood" and that this particular
wood was in the vicinity of Almondbury, on the south side of
Huddersfield. The suggestion is re-inforced by the fact that there
are the remains of an Early Iron Age Camp in the district and so
there could certainly have been a well-established settlement to
which the distinctive name "Lockwood" could have been given by the
other people round about.
Emily Bronte knew what she was about when she tenanted "Wuthering
Heights" with a Mr. Lockwood. Even in her day it was recognised as
a very old West Riding name of which the earliest record dates from
1294. Sir Frank Lockwood (1846-1897) was a distinguished lawyer who
came from a family with distinguished associations in Doncaster.
Although the name is not unfamiliar or unusual it is not
particularly widespread and the local directories can muster less
than 100 entries.
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© Desmond Holden
From "The Peak Advertiser", 8th March 1993.
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