Cockshall History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

The Cockshall surname is a habitational name, taken on from the place name Coggeshall, in Essex. This place name in turn comes from an Old English personal name Cogg and the Old English word "halh," meaning "nook."

Alternatively, the family could have derived their name from the English "cog," for "a small boat, and shoal, a place where the water is shallow, and where fish abound, a fishing-place." 1

Early Origins of the Cockshall family

The surname Cockshall was first found in Essex at Great Coggeshall, a markettown and parish, in the union of Witham, Witham division of the hundred of Lexden.

"This place is supposed by some to have been the Roman station Ad Ansam, and by others the Canonium of Antoninus, with the distance of which latter from Cæsaromagus its situation precisely corresponds: numerous vestiges of Roman antiquity have been discovered. The present town appears to have risen from the establishment of an abbey in 1142, by King Stephen and his Queen Matilda, for monks of the Cistercian order, and in honour of the Blessed Virgin. Coggeshall anciently comprised the parishes of Great and Little Coggeshall, at present consolidated." 2

In fact, the parish dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086. Conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Coggeshall, held by Theodroic Pontel from Count Eustace. 3

Ralph of Coggeshall (fl. 1207), was an early chronicler, a native of Bernewell, Cambridgeshire, and a monk of the Cistercian abbey at Coggeshall. 4

The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included: (Abbas) de Cogeshalle, Essex; Roger de Cogeshall. Essex; and Reginald Cokkeshale, Kent, while the Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I listed Ralph de Coggeshal, Essex, Henry III-Edward I. 5 6

Further to the north in Scotland, "William de Cogeshale witnessed an East Lothian charter by William the Lion, and also attested a charter by Malcolm, earl of Fife, c. 1214-1226. He was probably a cleric. " 7

Early History of the Cockshall family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Cockshall research. Another 140 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1041, 1388, 1394, 1395, 1399, 1402, 1510, 1599, 1600, 1623, 1624, 1632, 1647, 1677, 1681, 1682, 1686, 1690 and 1708 are included under the topic Early Cockshall History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Cockshall Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Cogshull, Coggeshull, Cockshull, Coggeshal, Coggeshall, Cogshall, Cockshal, Cockshall and many more.

Early Notables of the Cockshall family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Thomas Coggeshall (died 1402), from Essex, English politician, elected a Member of Parliament for Essex in February 1388, 1395 and 1399, appointed Sheriff of Essex for 1394. Henry Coggeshall (1623-1690), was an English mathematician, the third son of John Coggeshall of Orford in Suffolk, where he was baptised 23 Dec. 1623, and buried 19 Feb. 1690. "He invented the sliding-rule known by his name, first described by him in 1677 in a pamphlet entitled. 'Timber-Measure by a Line of more Ease, Dispatch, and Exactness than...
Another 92 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Cockshall Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Cockshall family

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: John Coggeshall, who arrived in Massachusetts in 1632 with his wife and four children, and became the first Governor of Rhode Island;

Citations +

Arthur, William , An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. London: 1857. Print
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Testa de Nevill or "Liber Feodorum" or "Book of Fees," thought to have been written by Ralph de Nevill, for King John (1199–1216)
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)