The surname of BLAKENSHIP is of the locational group of surnames 'one who came from Blenkinsop' a township in the parish of Haltwhistle, County Northumberland. Local names usually denoted where a man held his land, and indicated where he actually lived. This is the surname of a family who have been established in Yorkshire since the 14th century, who can trace their descent from Richard Blenkinsoppe, grandson to a certain Ranulfus who held the manor of Blenkinsopp in 1240. Surnames before the Norman Conquest of 1066 were rare in England having been brought by the Normans when William the Conqueror invaded the shores. The practice spread to Scotland and Ireland by the 12th century, and in Wales they appeared as late as the 16th century. Most surnames can be traced to one of four sources, locational, from the occupation of the original bearer, nicknames or simply font names based on the first name of the parent being given as the second name to their child. Other records of the name mention Anthony Blencansop, 1273 County Northumberland. Charles Blenckinsopp of Westmorland, registered at Oxford University in 1572. Thomas Blinkinsop married Sarah Allen at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1794. During the Middle Ages, when people were unable to read or write, signs were needed for all visual identification. For several centuries city streets in Britain were filled with signs of all kinds, public houses, tradesmen and even private householders found them necessary. This was an age when there were no numbered houses, and an address was a descriptive phrase that made use of a convenient landmark. At this time, coats of arms came into being, for the practical reason that men went into battle heavily armed and were difficult to recognise. It became the custom for them to adorn their helmets with distinctive crests, and to paint their shields with animals and the like. Coats of arms accompanied the development of surnames, becoming hereditary in the same way. In many parts of central and western Europe, hereditary surnames began to become fixed at around the 12th century, and have developed and changed slowly over the years. As society became more complex, and such matters as the management of tenure, and in particular the collection of taxes were delegated to special functionaries, it became imperative to distinguish a more complex system of nomenclature to differentiate one individual from another. |
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