Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
 Sidwell Coat of Arms / Sidwell Family CrestThis surname of SIDWELL is an English surname of uncertain origin. It appears to be a habitation name for someone who lived near a spring or well. The name is also spelt SITWELL. Habitation names were originally acquired by the original bearer of the name, who, having lived by, at or near a place, would then take that name as a form of identification for himself and his family. When people lived close to the soil as they did in the Middle Ages, they were acutely conscious of every local variation in landscape and countryside. Every field or plot of land was identified in normal conversation by a descriptive term. If a man lived on or near a hill or mountain, or by a river or stream, forests and trees, he might receive the word as a family name. Almost every town, city or village in early times, has served to name many families. Dame Edith SITWELL (1887-1964) was the English poet, born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, the daughter of an eccentric, Sir George SITWELL. She had an unhappy, lonely and frustrated childhood in the family home in Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire, until her governess introduced her to music and literature. She first attracted notice by her editorship of an anthology of new poetry entitled 'Wheels' (1916-21). It was not until the 10th century that modern hereditary surnames first developed, and the use of fixed names spread, first to France, and then England, then to Germany and all of Europe. In these parts of Europe, the individual man was becoming more important, commerce was increasing and the exact identification of each man was becoming a necessity. Even today however, the Church does not recognise surnames. Baptisms and marriages are performed through use of the Christian name alone. Thus hereditary names as we know them today developed gradually during the 11th to the 15th century in the various European countries. In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armoured warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe. |
