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Origins Available: |
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Heathfield is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived on a heath, which is an area of level, uncultivated land with poor, coarse, undrained soil and rich deposits of peat or peaty humus. The surname Heathfield belongs to the class of topographic surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees. The name was originally derived from the Old English words hæth, which meant heath, and the word feld, which meant field.
The surname Heathfield was first found in Sussex at Heathfield, a parish, in the union of Hailsham, hundred of Hawkesborough, rape of Hastings. 1 The Feet of Fines of 1265 in Norfolk list the first record of the name as Walter de Hethfeld. The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 list: Lynot de Hethefeld and Livesa de Hethfeld in Oxfordshire. 2 Heathfield is the scene of a severe battle in the year 635, between Cadwallo, and Edwin of Northumbria and his son Osfrid, on a spot since now named Slaughter Common.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Heathfield research. Another 67 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Heathfield History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Sound 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 Heathfield family name include Heathfield, Heatfield, Heethfield, Heathfeild, Heatfeild and many more.
Distinguished members of the family include