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![Show Contents]() Keywood History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 England
Keywood is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in Yorkshire, where the name was taken from the town of Cawood in the county's West Riding. The place-name was first recorded as Kawuda in 963 AD and was originally derived from the Old English words ca, meaning jackdaw, and wudu meaning woods, and described a wood where by jackdaws were common. Early Origins of the Keywood familyThe surname Keywood was first found in North Yorkshire, where Cawood is a large village and civil parish in the Selby district. The village dates back to 963 when it was listed as Kawuda. 1 and was given by King Athelstan to the see of York, about 935, in the time of Archbishop Wulstan. Today it is better known as the place where the Cawood sword was found. It is regarded as "one of the finest Viking swords ever discovered" and is nearly 1,000 years old and can be seen at the Yorkshire Museum. This locale is also the home of Cawood Castle, a palace for the Archbishops of York which dates back to 1181. Today Cawood Castle is owned by the Landmark Trust. Early History of the Keywood familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Keywood research. Another 66 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1514 and 1572 are included under the topic Early Keywood History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Keywood Spelling VariationsSound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Keywood family name include Cawood, Kawood, Cawoode, Cawod and others. Early Notables of the Keywood familyAnother 33 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Keywood Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Keywood familyFor political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Keywood surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Richard Cawood who arrived in Barbados in 1635; and later moved to St. Christopher; Ann Cawood who settled in Maryland in 1676.
- Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
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