Ashfeild History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland
Scotland

Ashfeild is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in Ashfield, which means the open field with ash trees. It is a place-name appearing in Lancashire, and is were the family originated, though they became centered in Suffolk.

Early Origins of the Ashfeild family

The surname Ashfeild was first found in Suffolk, at Ashfield, which dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086 when it was listed there as Assefelda. 1 Great Ashfield, Suffolk was also listed there as Eascefelda. 2

To complicate matters more, Ashfield is revival of an ancient village originally named Esfeld in 1216. It is now a local government district in western Nottinghamshire formed in 1974.

And today, Ashfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. This latter local was established shortly after the First Fleet arrival in 1788.

Early History of the Ashfeild family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ashfeild research. Another 95 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1506, 1559, 1560, 1569, 1570, 1576, 1578, 1599, 1604, 1620, 1660 and 1690 are included under the topic Early Ashfeild History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ashfeild Spelling Variations

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 Ashfeild family name include Ashfield, Ashfields and others.

Early Notables of the Ashfeild family

Distinguished members of the family include Sir Edmund Ashfield (c. 1506-1578) of Ewelme, Oxfordshire, an English politician, High Sheriff of Berkshire and Oxfordshire (1559-1560), High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire (1569-1570.) Edmund Ashfield (1576-c. 1620), was an English Catholic from Tattenhoe in Buckinghamshire. In 1599 he travelled to Edinburgh to meet James VI of Scotland. He was mistakenly kidnapped by the English Ambassador from England in the belief that Ashfield was an agent of James VI and working to further his succession to...
Another 82 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Ashfeild Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Ashfeild family to Ireland

Some of the Ashfeild family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Ashfeild family

For 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 Ashfeild surname or a spelling variation of the name include: James Ashfield settled in Virginia in 1636; John Ashfield settled in West New Jersey in 1664; and Henry Ashfield settled in Maryland in 1776.

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)