Collingam History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

The history of the Collingam family name begins after the Norman Conquest of 1066. They lived in Yorkshire. They lived in Collingham, in a parish near Wetherby, as Lords of the Manor of Collingham.

Early Origins of the Collingam family

The surname Collingam was first found in West Yorkshire at Collingham, a village and civil parish bounded on the north by the river Wharf and comprises about 2,500 acres. The village dates back to 1167, when it was listed as Col(l)ingeham. North and South Collingham, Nottinghamshire actually date back further to the Domesday Book where they were listed as the one village of Colingeham. All have the same meaning of "homestead or village of a family or followers of a man called Col or Cola", having derived from the Old English personal name + ham. 1

Further to the north in Scotland, Coldingham is a parish in Berwickshire. "This place, of which the name is of doubtful derivation, has a claim to very remote antiquity, and appears to have originally acquired distinction from the erection of a nunnery, in the seventh century, by Ebba, daughter of Ethelfrith, King of Northumbria. The monastery of Coldingham is said to have been founded by Edgar, King of Scotland, about the year 1100." 2

Robert de Colingeham was listed in the Pipe Rolls of Leicestershire in 1195 and Richard de Kollyngeham was listed in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1296. 3

Geoffrey de Coldingham (fl. 1214), was an early historian of the church of Durham and was, according to the heading prefixed to the manuscripts of his book, sacrist of Coldingham priory, a ' cell ' or dependent establishment of the priory of Durham. "Of his life nothing is known. His history begins with the death of Bishop William de St. Barbara in 1152, and ends abruptly with the election of Morgan (an alleged natural son of Henry II) to the bishopric in 1214. " 4

Thomas Colyngham (fl. 1387), was a Cistercian monk, attended the university of Paris, where he proceeded to the degree of doctor, presumably in theology. 4

Early History of the Collingam family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Collingam research. Another 65 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1195, 1296, 1379 and 1613 are included under the topic Early Collingam History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Collingam Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Collingham, Colingeham, Coldingham, Kollyngeham, Colyngham, Colingam and many more.

Early Notables of the Collingam family

More information is included under the topic Early Collingam Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Collingam migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Collingam or a variant listed above were:

Collingam Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Collingam, who landed in Maryland in 1673 5

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)