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The history of the Brerton family name begins after the Norman Conquest of 1066. They lived in Staffordshire. They lived in this area on estates at Brereton Manor, from which they took their name. Other records show that Brearton was a village in the parish of Knaresborough in Yorkshire and Brereton was a village three miles from Sandbach, Chester.
"One of the great Cheshire families who can be proved to have existed at or near the time of the Conquest, and are yet unnoticed in [the] Domesday [Book]. They came over with the Conqueror, in the train of Hugh Lupus, with Gilbert de Venables to whom they are apparently related, and settled at Brereton, from which place the name was assumed as early as temp. William Rufus. " 1
The surname Brerton was first found in Cheshire at Brereton, a civil parish, containing the hamlets of Brereton Green and Brereton Heath. Brereton dates back to the Domesday Book where it was listed as Bretone and literally meant "farmstead amongst the briars," having derived from the Old English words brer + dun. 2 At that time, Gilbert de Venables held the lands of Brereton which was large enough for 4 ploughs and held 1 acre of meadow. 3
Brereton Hall, built for Sir William Brereton (1550-1631) is a country house north of the village of Brereton Green.
Alternatively, the name could have been derived from Brearton, a village and civil parish in the Harrogate borough of North Yorkshire. In this case, the place name dates back to the Domesday Book where it was listed as Braretone 3 having derived from the same literal origin as the aforementioned Brereton.
Further north and east, Brierton is a township, in the parish of Stranton, union of Stockton-upon-Tees, North East division of Stockton ward, South division of the county of Durham. While one would presume that the township was related to the family, "the manor belonged from the earliest date of the records to the family of Graystock. It afterwards passed to the Dacres." 4
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Brerton research. Another 104 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1550, 1604, 1611, 1631, 1659, 1661, 1664, 1680, 1691, 1718 and 1722 are included under the topic Early Brerton History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Brereton, Breereton, Breeretoun, Breeretoune, Breriton and many more.
Outstanding amongst the family at this time was
Another 49 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Brerton or a variant listed above were: