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Shelvock
Location
Geography
& Geomorphology
Origins
of the Family Name
Earliest
origins of the family names
Where
& When?
Occurrence
of the family names from the C16th - present day
A
History of Shelvock Manor
The
place and local environs providing the family name as well as
some other associated families
The
SHELVOKEs
The
story of engineering prowess and how a family name will become
extinct in modern times
The
SHELVOCKs
The
story of one couple's destiny to preserve the original family
name from extinction
A
Brief History of Halesowen
The
town that became the centre for the modern family name of
SHILVOCK
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SHELVOCK
One Name Study:Family Trees (1581-present day)
SHILVOCK
One Name Study:Family Trees (1639-present day)
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SHELVOCK
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- The
Family Name -
Origins
of the SHELVOCK/SHILVOCK Name
Shelvock was a Domesday Manor in Shropshire
(recorded in 1086 on the orders of King William I, "The
Conqueror" of England). In the C15th it was acquired through
marriage, by the THORNES family. The THORNES were noted
merchantmen of nearby Shrewsbury, with origins in the village of
Thornes in Staffordshire. THORNES descendants can be found
throughout the World today, with many able to trace their
families back to the original THORNES of Shelvock. A good
Internet search will locate researches of this family, as it is
not the intent of this study or this essay to cover this family
name in any detail. However, it is worth mentioning here that the
THORNES, the Lords of Shelvock, had no known descendants that
adopted the name simply as SHELVOCK. There has been some
confusion between the early awards of arms to the Thornes of
Shelvock & Melverley and the right of Shelvoke, Shelvock or
Shilvock families to use them. This is simply not the case.
The root and meaning of the name of
Shelvock can be found in post Roman times (post C6th) from the
Saxon or Old English ac
meaning oak, and scelf
meaning shelf of level
ground, or flat topped hill. This geomorphology can still be seen
today on modern Ordnance Survey maps and at the site of the
manor, where an oak tree stands to this day. Please refer to
Shelvock Manor & Township for
more detail on location.
The Saxon root for the name explains the
phonetic spellings of the name, which show that the original
emphasis must have been after the 'v',
i.e. pronounced shelv'oak
or shelf'ak,
rather than shel'vock
as pronounced most commonly today. This change
probably occurred as literacy increased, spelling was
standardised and pronounced as written, and so the true origin of
the name was forgotten except by a few. I would be interested in
hearing from modern families how they pronounce their family
name.
Shelvock became one of the eleven "towns"
that were part of Ruyton-XI-Towns, however it is clear the Manor
and its lands were important for a thousand years until its
decline two centuries ago. Sir Arthur Conan DOYLE, author of the
Sherlock Holmes stories, is credited as remarking that Ruyton had
barely enough houses to make one town, let alone eleven! This is
still true today, with many of the "towns" being
represented by only a small number of cottages or a farm.
Shelvock is represented by only a single C19th farmhouse with
associated outbuildings from a much earlier period.
We can be sure that the family name of
SHELVOCK refers to the Manor of Shelvock and the surrounding area
where the THORNES family resided in the C16th, simply due to the
earliest occurrences of the name closest to that place.
It is known that Richard THORNES, and the
inherited family line through his brother Jeffrey, continued with
the THORNES name. It is interesting to note, however, that the
first BMD reference in nearby Fitz in 1581 is for the baptism of
a daughter of Jeffrey SHELVOCK.
This early reference may be a shortened form of "Jeffrey
THORNES of Shelvock" but cannot be verified. From about the
C15th it is known that English surnames became more formalised,
often from the place the families resided, and both SHELVOCK and
THORNES family names can be found in the same period around the
Ruyton area. A slightly earlier reference (Church records) has a
John or
Johannes SHELVOCK as
vicar/rector at Ruyton from 1568, and then at Smethcott from
1589. There is no proof the two family names are in fact linked
except when used as "THORNES of Shelvock". There is no
evidence that any of the earliest recorded SHELVOCKs can be
considered the heads of today's families.
It is entirely possible that some later
SHELVOCKs and SHILVOCKs are descended from unidentified junior
branches of the THORNES family who may have had their name
"THORNES of Shelvock" shortened to simply SHELVOCK.
Jeffrey, for example, is simply noted in historical texts as
having "other children". Certainly, the name will also
have come from other families associated with the Manor, such as
servants and tenant farmers, and others who lived in close
proximity. Ath of Shelvock,
as an example, is the earliest mentioned by name in a Manor Roll
of 1374. Ath is an Old English word for "dweller", and
may have been a real mediaeval name or simply referred to a
tenant farmer who lived and worked at Shelvock.
The first names used in the C16th &
C17th by both THORNES and SHELVOCK families are similar. It is
uncertain whether this is evidence to support a family
connection, or simply an indicator of the popular names of the
time, or the adoption of the names of patrons and landowners by
poorer families for whom they worked. We are unlikely to ever
know as the required records have not survived. If researchers of
THORNES have more information of a THORNES branch becoming
SHELVOCK, then please contact me. This will be as close as most
of us will come to the roots of this surname.
© Mark A S Grace,
September 2008 updated
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