A History of the name: Marchington
editThe name Marchington is a place name. Its taken from a small village situated in Staffordshire, lying on the river Dove being the County boarder between Staffordshire and Derbyshire.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names Machamton 1002 A.D. Merchametone. 1086. Domesday.
Probably farmstead of the dwellers at a namestead where smallage ( wild celery ) grows.
Old English merece + naeme + tun March: merece ; old English, meaning a place between two territories / places. Or a marshy field containing wild celery. ing: Norse god. ton: farmstead.
Origins of the Village Marchington The Village Marchington is mention in a Saxon Charter as land belonging to Wulfhelm. AD.951.This land passed to a Wulfric as mentioned in the Domesday survey. Wulfric must have been a supporter of King Harold and as such he may have had the land taken from him by William Duke of Normandy ( Conqueror) and given to Henry Ferrers, Norman nobleman.
Domesday Entry The name Marchington is mentioned in the Domesday book. Being the Village of Marchington, within the shire of Staffordshire.
The entry is as follows: LAND OF HENRY FERRERS Henry holds MARCHINGTON himself. 2 hides (area of land). 1 virgate of land in AGARDSLEY. Wulfic held it; he was a free man. (Wulfric was a Saxon who probably died at the battle of Hastings) Land for 7 ploughs. In the lordship 2, with 1 slave; (5 ploughs owned b the small holders 2 by the lord). 18 villagers and 9 smallholders with 3 ploughs.(Villagers are persons who are tied to the land managed by the lord of the manor, Smallholders are freeman who own land through the lord). Meadow, 40 acres; woodland pasture 3 leagues long and 1½ leagues wide. Value 100s ( the value of the land is derived from the farming revenue it could make per annum.) Latin name as given in the Domesday entry for Marchington: Merchametone origins of the Marchington Surname.
The first mention of a person called Marchington, is in the Peak Forest Court Rolls of the 13th century, and that person is William de Marchington mentioned between the periods of 1208-1222. de being French for of and denotes the use of the name in Norman times.
It is therefore certain that the family originated from the village or forest ward of Marchington in the Norman period and as such took the name or was given the name as a way of distinguishing one 'John from another John'. Surnames were not used in this time and the method of naming someone after their Christian name was one of distinguishing someone from another, if you moved about your local area, you were inevitably known by that local community as being 'Robert from the village of Marchington' shorten to Robert of Marchington and as such the surname was born in Norman times, later on as the use of a second name stuck the 'de' was dropped.
People were also named after their Trade i.e. Robert le Blacksmith, and after time this would be shortened to 'Robert Smith. Its also probable that some of the people referred to as de Marchington who were living in the Peak Forest may have over time took up local names or trade names leaving possible our line who stuck with the name. Again if there were two Robert de Marchington's living in the same area in Peak Forest then one of them would have been referred to as Robert de Bowden to distinguish them from each other.
Links between the Village of Marchington and Peak Forest Without getting over complicating : The above mentioned Henry de Ferrers heirs were granted the title Earl of Derby & Nottingham, probably from 1138. They were the largest land owners in Derbyshire, although most of Henry's holdings were west of the river Derwent .
Henry died in 1088/9. Robert Ferrers succeeded Henry and became the 1st Earl of Derby and his son Robert succeeded him.
A William de Peverel was the Custodian (Kings Manager) of the High Peak Forest on behalf of King William I (reign 1066-1087). William Peverel is reported to be the bastard son of King William I. Later on William Peverel's grandson - he being a William, killed the Bishop of Chester in 1155, and all the Peverel lands in High Peak were taken by the then King - Henry II (reign 1154-1189) William Peverel lived out his life in a Monastery. Later on the Ferrers family secured (or rather seized) all the Peverels former holdings in the High Peak due to the fact that the then Earl, William Ferrers, was a favourite of King John (reign 1199-1216) and supported him through the trouble times of the Barons feuds to which King John was forced to concede and sign the Magna Carta in 1215.
Earl William Ferrers was also related to the Peverel family through marriage he being the son-in-law of the disinherited William Peverel who killed the Bishop of Chester and as such this explains why he staked his claim on the Peverel family former lands and wanted them back, and its at this point that a direct link between the places of Marchington and High Peak are truly made between 1215-1222. Between 1216 - 1222 the Custodian (Kings Manager) of the Peak Forest was Earl William de Ferrers of Derby he would have forced himself upon the King to take the roll as this would have given him control of the Castle at Castleton in order to stamp and administer his authority on his newly acquired Peverel former holdings inside and outside the Royal forest.
As such he would have installed his loyal men from his Forest Estate near Tutbury to take up posts within the Forestry Managementship in the newly acquired large Peak Forest holdings which would have taken some management of as such he must have moved some of his Foresters from the Forest of Needwood, this being the Ferrers family Hunting area within their large holding of Tutbury just on the boarder of Staffs & Derby, to which the place of Marchington was/is a forest ward and village in the said Estate.
Its at this point that our connection with The Peak Forest and the wards of Bowden & Hope and the founding of Chapel en le Frith begins. Its probable as mention our ancestors came as foresters on the orders of the Earl of Derby. They later settled on the land as Freeholders (as stated in court rolls of 1208-1222) having been given land by the King for services rendered within the forest. This lead to them along with others of that time requesting permission to build a church within their ward as the nearest one was some 10 miles away in Hope.
The land for the building of the church was sold to them by Earl of Derby William Ferrers and they set about building a church next to the Forest ward HQ. One thing led to another and within a short period of time a settlement grew up around the Church and the Major crossroads which ran through the area from the Cheshire salt mines into Yorkshire and from Derby to Lancashire. A Borough town was created c1240-1255 ( a town with rights to trade to the passing public) as the locals are granted burger properties (right to run a market stall or trade from a dwelling within the town area) the place we now know as Chapel en le Frith (Chapel in the Forest) was born.
Further links with the Ferrers and Peverels in that Chapel en le Frith Church was dedicated to Thomas A' Becket Arch Bishop of Canterbury who was killed by King Henry II supporters in 1172. Now Thomas A' Beckett performed the married between Robert Ferrers & Margaret Peverel and whilst there was great pilgrims to Thomas's tomb in Canterbury its fitting that the Foresters of Chapel en le Frith dedicated the church to Beckett being the guru of his time.