Analysis of IGI Page

Map 1. Distribution of Warrilows recorded in IGI, pre 1800

Map 2. Distribution of Warrilows recorded in IGI, totals of 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries

Table 1. The distribution of Warrilows recorded in IGI, by county.

Table 2. The distribution of Warrilows recorded in IGI, in Staffordshire. Extracts from lists of Wills pre 1805 at Lichfield Joint Record Office

Table 3. Locations of Warrilows with wills pre 1805

Map 3. Locations of Warrilows with wills pre 1805 Analysis of Staffs. Record Society Transcriptions

Map 4. Northern Staffordshire showing all locations of Warrilows

Table 4. References to Warrilows in chronological order

Table 5. References to Warrelowe as a place-name

Table 6. Locations of Warrilows, showing numbers per century

Table 7. Locations of Warrilows comparing time of occupancy

with distance from Paynsley.

Other maps.

Map 5. The area around Paynsley.

Map 6. The 'New Forest' of Northern Staffordshire.

Map 7. Staffordshire

My own family is part of the Moseley branch of the Warrilows who settled in Bloxwich in the early 19th Century. Many of us still have Warrilow as a last fore-name. My interest in the family name began with my grandmother's stories many years ago, but as I investigated and found that we were descended from Staffordshire yeoman stock and not 'a mad Irish schoolmaster', the time came to put the record straight.

The evidence for the origins in northern Staffordshire is very strong, beyond that however I am aware that there is as much conjecture - but interesting thoughts nevertheless. I have included plenty of data for interest and information, with the possibility of further research for anyone who might be so inclined.

My thanks to the staff at Stafford Record Office and Lichfield J.R.O., for their help and advice, and particularly to those at Walsall Local History Center - always helpful, always pleasant, always uncomplaining, providing an exemplary service.

The Staffordshire connection.

A preliminary impression gained when beginning to look at the distribution and early history of the name Warrilow, is that there is a concentration in the area of the West Midlands of England. In order to confirm this perception a more clinical examination is necessary.

The IGI has been used here to provide an objective sample of the name's distribution. This index lists over 900 Warrilows in Staffordshire, 158 in Warwickshire (mainly in Birmingham post 1800) and a total of 110 in the whole of the remainder of England, Wales and Ireland. It can be seen that it demonstrates very clearly that this regional concentration does exist. Map 1 shows this distribution pre 1800 and Map 2 the totals for 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. More details of those locations where Warrilows are recorded are shown in Table1.

The IGI links 'Warrilows' with 'Warlowes' but the names clearly have different origins in spite of the occasional spelling confusions and so 'Warlowes' are not included in this study. Although spellings of Warrilow vary considerably, with Wa's and Wo's being found in the same family in some cases, this probably reflects the spelling interpretations of the particular scribe at times when the majority of people were illiterate. In most later cases however spellings do become more consistent. All are considered to have the same origin as these variations are all found in the earliest records.

County	Pre 1800	Totals	Observations - Locations
Berkshire		26	Reading, Woodley
Cheshire	9	11	Brasenhil, Chester.
Derbyshire	4	4	Derby, Wilne, Marston.
Durham		1	With 'Warlowes'!?
Gloucestershire		3	Uley
Hampshire	2	3	Winchester, Stratfield.
Lancashire	1	4	Warrington, Manchester, Harpurnly.
Leicestershire	2	2	Ashby, Leicester.
London	8	17
Monmouth		1	Llanishem.
Nottinghamshire	3	3	Bilborough, Nottingham
Shropshire	1	4	Acton Burnell, Shrewsbury, Cheswardine
Staffordshire	355	>900
Surrey		1	Southwark.
Warwickshire	32	158	Birmingham, Stratford on Avon
Worcestershire		8	Dudley, Worcester.
Yorkshire		22	York

A closer look at Staffordshire confines the area even more. There are approximately 900 Warrilows listed in the county as a whole, but of these only about 100 are found in the southern half, south of Stafford. Many of theses southerners, consistently spelling their names with 'Wo' and having first appeared in Bloxwich (Walsall) in 17th C., are later concentrated in Walsall. (It is possible that this spelling variation reflects the distinctly different vowel pronunciations between the north and south of the county - e.g. southern 'mon' for man, 'con' for can, 'loff' for 'laff' (laugh) etc. etc.) These details within Staffordshire are shown in Table 2.

Name variant	Pre 1700	18th C.	19th C.	Totals	Number in South Staffs	Observations - Locations in South Staffs
Warrilow	96	174	>500	c800	32	Walsall, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton
Worrilow	8	77	36	121	86	Mainly Walsall
Totals	104	251	>536	c900	118

This evidence is strengthened by the locations, shown in Table 3 and Map 3, of Warrilows whose wills are recorded at the Lichfield JRO. It clearly confirms the fact that 'Warrilow" is a name found predominantly in Staffordshire, and so it is in this area that origins should be sought first.

Date	Fore-name	Location
1542	William	Caverswall
1550		Stone
1558	Thomas	Stone
1559	Katherine	Checkley
1565	Geoffrey	Caverswall
1582	Ralph	Dilhorne
1585	George	Checkley
1586	Ralph	Stone
1611/12	Thomas	Stone
1613/14	Margaret	Checkley
1614/15	John	Dilhorne
1617	John	Uttoxeter
1619	Geoffrey	Crakemarsh
1636	Robert	Cheadle
1639	Alice	Dilhorne
1665/66	John	Dilhorne
1673	Richard
1685	John	Derby
1696	Thomas	Draycott
1700	John	Horton
1705	John	Uttoxeter
1714	Thomas	Dilhorne
1716/17	Benjamin	Caverswall
1725	John	Stone
1727	William	Draycotte
1728	Anthont	Forsbrook
1730	William	Stone
1738	Thomas	Dilhorne
1740	Joseph	Walsall
1755	John	Dilhorne
1756	John	Stone
1797	John	Stone
1799	Anthony	Dilhorne

The country is particularly fortunate in having a very long established 'Staffordshire Record Society', which has been publishing transcriptions of old documents related to the county for over a hundred years. These documents are mainly from the 11th to the 17th centuries. They include those concerned with legal matters such as 'Plea Rolls', 'Assize Rolls', 'Banco Rolls' and 'Quarter Session Records' (Court Reports); legal settlements, especially concerning land ownership, in 'Final Concordes', 'Inquisitions', 'Star Chamber Records' and 'The Staffs Chartulary'; and lists of jurors; 'Hearth Tax Returns'; 'Muster Rolls' assessing the strength of possible armed forces (e.g. 'George Warylow a polax'); 'Recusant Returns' listing those who did not attend church and acknowledge the Protestant Church of England, i.e. Roman Catholics; 'Subsidy Rolls' (taxes 'to support the Scotch War') and many more.

In order to find the earliest references to names upon which 'Warrilow' might be based, and also to discover the locations of families and a possible origin of the name, these documents have proved an invaluable resource and have been analyzed here. All references to Warrilow as a family name or place-name have been extracted and provide the data used below.

'De Warilawe' and 'Warelowe'.

The earliest reference to a name which might possibly be related to 'Warrilow' is 'Henry de Warelwich' found in a document of 1176, this is not considered to be particularly strong evidence, but it is never seen again so that it could have changed. In 1253 however, in Inquisitions to ascertain the value of land in the Totmonslow Hundred, the name 'de Warilawe' first appears. From this date until 1390 the names of at least twelve different individuals are recorded and although spelling varies slightly, the fundamental structure and sound of the name is quite clear. At this time all are preceded with 'de' indicating a connection with a specific location.

From 1390 until the last record seen of 1666, many more individuals are named but without the 'de'. Again spellings vary but all begin with 'War' or 'Wor', all have three syllables, the central one containing the vowel sound provided by 'a', 'e', 'I', 'o', or 'y', and ending in 'loe', 'low', 'law', with or without a final 'e', and in one case 'la'.

These names are listed chronologically in Table 4, together with the locations of the families concerned. The locations have then been shown on Map 4.

From these references it can be seen that Warrilows reflected a cross section of society, the good, the bad and the worthy. Henry represented Stafford at the Winchester Parliament of 1371, and it appears that in 1305 Galfrido (Geoffrey) of Grindley was held in high esteem as he gave his warranty and seal to a document of the Chartulary of St. Thomas's Priory, which was written by his son Willielmus (Willaim). Poor old John was the victim of breaking, entering and theft in 1596, whilst also in the 1590s Thomas, Margaret and Ralph seemed to have created mayhem throughout the area, but were they ever caught?

Most references are to solid yeoman stock, but these must be just a small proportion of the whole Warrilow population who in the main went unrecorded.

'Warelowe' or 'Werselowe'?

The family names are all found in the north of the county, especially concentrated in an area bounded roughly by Stafford, Stoke and Uttoxeter.

The only place-name today which bears any similarity to 'Warelowe' is Warslow in the extreme north-east of the county. Warslow is moreover of ancient origin, being mentioned in Domesday where it is called 'Wereslei'.

Throughout the documents however there are many undoubted references to Warslow. The spelling of the name varies as is usual, but it most frequently takes the form of 'Werselowe' or similar in which there are two syllables and there is always a central letter 's'. Furthermore Warslow is some distance away from the 'heartland' of the 'Warrelowe' name. It is therefore considered doubtful as the original source.

There are however four references to a place named as 'Werrelowe', Warrylowe', Warelowe' and 'Warrlowe', as shown in Table 5. Three of these references are to the lands of the Draycott family (after whom the village of Draycott was named) and so presumable refer to the same place, and specifically in 1523 it states that Warrlowe is in the manor of Paynsley. Moreover, in the same document, Werslowe is also mentioned in association with other settlements in the north-east of the county, as a different place. Paynsley, now in the parish of Draycott-in-the-Moors, is located right in the center of the area identified as the 'heartland'! This would seem to be sufficient proof that this is the source of the surname.

In the Domesday Book it is recorded that Paynsley had 'land for one plough' and that it had been help previously (i.e. before the Conquest) by Wulfgeat. This estate and many others in the area were now held by the king but were waste. It would appear that the conquerors had taken the land from the original (Anglo-Saxon/Danish) occupiers, but in 1086 it had not yet been reallocated. One of the families who did later settle there in a part called Warrelowe, perhaps the original occupiers or those removed from another location nearby, became knows as 'de Warrelow' as the new French prefix 'de' (of) was used with the fore-name to identify individuals more clearly in an increasingly ordered society.

In a note to the document of 1523 in 'Notes on Staffordshire Families', we find the footprint in the snow showing that others have been here before us. The transcriber, W. Fowler Carter, comments that, '…..Warrlowe and Woodhouse have vanished though the former probably survives in the Staffordshire surname of Warrilow'. So, we find that the thought was not original but perhaps it is now proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Date	Name	Reference	Observations
1349	Werrelowe	1. Vol. XII p.81	Plea Rolls Refers to lands of 'Richard de Draycote in Paynislegh, Draicote, Cunsale, Kynguslegh, Wistan, Caltone, Alstanfeld, Werrelowe, Sweynesmor, Borland and Wilne'.
1476	Warclowe	3. Vol. VI. P.I. P.94	Plea Rolls Refers to 'John Wright late of Warelowe' summoned. (Re. 32 in Names)
1523	Warrlowe	4. Vol. 1925. P.123	Refers to the lands of John Draycott Knt. '….was seised in his demesne as of fee of the manor of Draycott with the hamlet of Tattemonslowe belonging to the same manor in the said county and of the manor of Paynsley with the hamlets of Cresswall, Warrlowe, Woodhouse, and Leys belonging to the said manor of Paynsley…. ….also in Buterton, Alstonfeld, Werslowe, Sweynesmore, Kyngsley, Whiston and Brodeoke.'   Here Warr(e)lowe in the manor of Paynsley is referred to in the same item with Werslowe(Warslow) which is associated in the list with neighbouring settlements in the extreme north of the county. It is quite clear from this therefore, that Warrelowe and Werselowe are two different places.   This extract is taken from 'Notes on Staffordshire Families' and the transcriber, W. Fowler Carter, comments at this point that, '….Warrlowe and Woodhouse have vanished though the former probably survives in the Staffordshire surname of Warrilow'.
1612	Warrylowe	2. Vol. IV. P.13	Final Concorde Refers to lands '… in Paynsley, Draycott, Cunsall, Cresswall, Lee Howses, Warrylowe and Stallington Co. Stafford.'

So where was 'Warrelowe'?

The next step is to locate Warrelow more precisely, preferably from maps.

There is a place very near to Paynsley Hall named 'Morrilow Heath'. This is shown on the first Ordnance Survey Map of 1836, and is called 'Mariley Heath' on Yates's Map of 1775 and Stebbing Shaw's of 1798. No reference to a place of this name has been seen in the old documents. Has the 'W' been transposed to an 'M' at some time in the past?

Unfortunately there are no manorial maps of Paynsley or Draycott which might provide earlier information, and the 1837 Tithe Map of Draycott, which could possibly have yielded the name preserved as a field name, unusually has no field or farm names. Morrilow Heath is in the next parish, Leigh, where again it is called 'Mariley Heath' on the Tithe Map, and although all fields are named, there are no clues there. Furthermore there were no Enclosure Awards in this area and so another possible avenue is closed.

The place-name Warre-low probably derives from two Old English or Scandinavian words. The Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names gives us 'waru'- Old English meaning 'defence, guard, care', and 'varol' - Old Scandinavian meaning 'beacon', and many place-names beginning with 'War' are interpreted as being related to watching or look-out positions. The suffix 'low' is considered generally to be derived from the O.E. 'hlaw' or 'hyll' meaning a 'small hill', but could also be from the O.S. 'lausa' meaning 'slope'. W.H. Duignan appears to always interpret 'low' as a tumulus, burial-mound or battle-mound and M. Gelling also has 'hill spur'.

It seems possible therefore that the name describes a hill or sloping spur used as a look-out or watching place. There is also the possibility however that 'War' may be derived from the O.E. 'waer' meaning a weir, so it could be the mound by the weir!

Paynsley Hall is on the flood plain of the River Blithe, Morrilow Heath lies about two miles south of the Hall and about a hundred and fifty feet higher, the highest point on the skyline. This would make the ideal lookout point over the valley!

	D. B. Ref	12C 1100	13C 1200	14C 1300	15C 1400	16C 1500	17C 1600
Amerton	P.89		1
Beamhurst						1	2
Biddulph	P.1						2
Bishops Offley	P.75					2
Blythebridge
Burton (Stafford?)	C.8			3
Burton-on-Trent	O. 10
Caverswall	T. 20						2
Caverswall
Chartley	P. 90			2
Cheadle	T. 23			2
Church Loxley	T. 44?		1
Cleitul (Chatcall?)	P. 50	1
Colwich Priory				1
Copthurst Valley
Cotes	P. 52			1
Dilhorne	T. 21				1	1	2
Draycott-in-Moors				2			3
Draycott-in-Clay	O. 3.
Fenton & Longton
Forsbrook
Grindley
Haughton
Helowe
Hollington
Lightwood Heath
Little Loxley
Long Hedge
Madeley (Great)?
Madeleyhulme
Meyre
Newcastle
Newhouse
Normacot
Normacot Grange
Sandon
Stafford
Stallington
Stone (Walton)
Uttoxeter
Warelowe(Paynsley
Weston (nrChartley)
Weston Coyney

Dispersal.

Table 6 shows the numbers of individuals found in the references per century. Table 7 shows the locations of these families, and those from the wills, in terms of distance from Paynsley, compared with the dates of occupancy of each site. Although the specific references being used here do not give a full and accurate time-span for each occupancy, they do give a generalized picture of the distribution. It can be seen from this data that there appears to be no direct correlation between distance from Paynsley and time of settlement. The family did not spread out as concentric waves, other factors were involved. It must be noted however that all these distances are relatively small.

One of these factors may have been the establishment of the 'New Forest' by Henry II in about 1160. Royal Forests could be described as SSRRI's (Sites of Special Royal Recreational Interest), especially cleared for the benefit of the King and his loyal supporters, and protected from the depredations of the local peasantry (who probably had free use of them previously) by specific 'Forest Laws'. They also provided a valuable income from the sale of products such as timber and venison.

There were four well established 'Forests' in Staffordshire to which this was added. The others were Cannock, Brewood, Needwood and Kinver. The band of forest across the center of the county, combined with the higher land of Cannock Chase, gave the county a north-south divide which was reinforced later, in the Industrial Revolution, as rapid urban growth was concentrated on the two coal fields with their very separate and distinct industrial development. Moreover, the division was also maintained by the fact that the only forest to continue through until the present day was that on Cannock Chase which had been granted to the Bishops of Lichfield by the Crown in 1290, until reclaimed for local industrial developments in the 1600's, and was therefore maintained whilst the others were gradually sold off and whittled away piecemeal almost completely. This barrier may also have played a part in restricting the spread of the family southwards in the early times.

As was mentioned earlier, Paynsley and many of the estates around it wee described as 'waste' in the 'Domesday survey, possibly as a result of the wars of the Mercian uprisings in 1069-70, or even the Danish wars of 1016. It was much of this area, together with other clearances, which was used to establish this 'New Forest'. Paynsley was on the edge of this area as shown on Map 6, but these developments would necessarily have upset previous settlement patterns, and any Warrilows living locally would have been moved at that time. It is significant perhaps, that Paynsley itself with other 'Warrilow' localities nearby, and those in a line about six miles east and south-east of Paynsley, follow approximately the edge of the Forest. Most of the early references were to these places. Could it be that this is where many of the Warrilows settled when the Forest was established?

This forest was only short-lived and so probably by the middle of the 13th century settlement patterns would have started to change again as the population moved back into the area.

The earliest of our names, Henry de Warelwich of Cleitul, has the suffix 'wich' meaning a clearing in the wood. It is not known where Cleitul was but Warelwich might have been the earlier name of a place within the woodland to which the family returned following deforestation, and could be an earlier form of the place named Warrelowe.

Paynsley Hall and Recusancy

Following the Reformation, Recusants were those who refused or neglected to attend services of the Established Church, or worship according to its forms. Throughout the period from the 16th to the 18th centuries there was continuos conflict between the Roman Catholics, who did not accept the separation from Rome by Henry VIII, and the reformed Protestant Church of England. Except for the brief period of Mary's reign when the roles were reversed, Roman Catholic recusants were harried.

Many of the major families, leading landholders, were significant figures in this resistance, forming focal points for Recusancy, especially in the north of England. Tenant farmers, yeomen and peasants often followed the lead of their landlords to maintain in their favour, or were attracted to landlords of the same persuasion for their support and protection.

Recusancy Commissioners were sent out at regular intervals to assess the extent of the 'problem', and many of their reports are included in the SRS transcriptions.

In the 1560s the Commissioners complained that the strength of Recusancy in Staffordshire and Derby shire was attributed to…'the example of Sir Thomas Fitzherbert, John Sacheverell and John Draycott esquires'. (VCH Vol III p99) and that squires collected Catholic tenants and servants (p100), for example the Draycotts at Paynsley. In 1592 the leading figures in the Recusant Lists included 'John Draicot of Painesley' and 'Philip Draicot of Leigh'(p249), and at the beginning of the Civil War in 1641, 'Peynsley House' was sequestered by parliamentary forces from the start(p263).

No Warrilows have been found in these records of Recusants, although in some cases such as Draycott in 1604 it simply states that there are 'many', and some Warrilows were charged with non-attendance at church(Table 4).

The Roman Catholic parish of Cresswell was centred on its chapel in Paynsley Hall (the priest lived at Leesehouses -- VCH III p111) and in this church's records there are very many Warrilows over a long period of time.

Other leading figures of Recusancy were the Giffards of Chillington, and later the Whitgreaves of Moseley Old Hall ('King's Preservers' following the events of 1651). At Moseley Old Hall there was another chapel wiich was the base of the Roman Catholic parish of Bushbury. Again in these records there is a Warrilow family in the 18th C., tenants of the Whitgreaves, with whom they may have arrived here from Bridgeford north of Stafford in the 16th C., or were part of the southern branch whose spelling was changed. This family lost their farm in 1806 and moved to Bloxwich for work in coal and steel, bringing a Wa element into the Wo's in Walsall.

It is not known whether the majority of the Warrilows were Recusants, or if those who were R.C. followed the faith originally by conviction or convenience, but they are found in many Catholic registers as they adhered to the R.C. Church.

Where are they now?

Like all others the family has spread far and wide from the heartland since that first family lived in Warrelowe.

Some of the dispersal can be seen in the documents. The next step would be to analyse the G.R.O. Indexes, Census returns, trade directories and so forth, to discover the spread and extent of the name in the past hundred and fifty years - but that is another project. Suffice it to say that there are still a lot of them in the current telephone directories of Staffordshire.

References.

Victoria County History

The Staffordshire Landscape D. M. Pallister

Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names Ekwall

Place-names in the landscape m. Gelling

Notes on Staffordshire place-names W. H. Duignan

Domesday Book Pub. Phillimore

I.G.I.

List of wills (Lichfield JRO)