beckerleg info back to 940AD
The Beckerlegs (also spelt Beckerlegg and Beckerlegge) came from the Penzance area of Cornwall and four brothers are included in the register which was held at Paul Church near Mousehole and which was compiled from local knowledge in 1610 as Mousehole was ransacked and the church and the original records were burned by the Spaniards in 1595 (see file mouse.wpd).
Personal documentation, once recorded 'officially', resulted in other immutable spellings such as Beckileg and Beckerley appearing within families, depending on interpretations by clerks, etc of the local accents in which the surname was pronounced!
At the time of the 'Muster Role' in 1560 or thereabouts no Beckerlegs were listed in the area but in the 'Protestation Role' of 1640, the above mentioned four brothers were registered, namely Thomas, Oliver, John and Edward Beckerleg and it seems that all persons with the surname Beckerleg or it's derivatives, are decended from them.
(As the name Edward has been perpetuated throughout my family I asume that of the four brothers, Edward was my ancestor).
Before then the Beckerlegs came from what is now Bickleigh near Tiverton in Devon. Bickleigh was called Bicanleag in 940AD i.e around the time that the Cornish King Hywel was defeated by the Saxon King Athelstan and seemingly acknowledged that he owed allegiance to King Athelstan with the true left bank (the Wessex bank) of the River Tamar becoming the boundary between the kingdoms of Wessex and Cornwall. Bicanleag is called Bichelea in the Doomsday Book.
Beckerleg was originally Bicca's legh = Bicca's clearing. The Biccas were a Saxon tribe in existence before the conquest and Leg derives from 'Legh' - a clearing.
In the Records Office there are a number of references to Bykelegh, Byklye, Byckeleg in the 12th to 15th centuries including Sir William de Bykelek (1257) and Sir William de Bykelegg (Knight) 1307.
What's in a name however as it seems that my female ancestors since at least c.1600 have been mainly Celtic and entirely so during my family's long association with St Ives in Cornwall, i.e Cornish with surnames which include 'Baragwaneth' and 'Roscorla', an Irish 'Taylor' and a Breton 'Runceville' now spelt 'Rouncefield' in Cornwall!.
Roy Beckerleg
29th May 2000
Roy Beckerleg, 25 Bowling Green Court, HAYLE, Cornwall TR27 4RP, UK - Tel - 01736 759433, E-mail [email protected]
(Life Senior Member IEEE, New York - Radio Amateur G3ZMP Ex- VS4RB, 9M8RB, 9J2RA, 3D6AW, A4XGS, S83C, 7P8BY, 5N6/G3ZMP, ZS1AEY & EA7/G3ZMP)
More Replies:
-
Re: beckerleg info back to 940AD
George Hoskins 1/02/09