Possible Origins of the Dilnot Name

Investigating the origins of a surname is always a speculative affair, at best. The same surname, in the same geographical region, may have more than one origin. For example, one of my ancestral lines are the Ingham's of Yorkshire. From before 1600 Ingham's could be found around Leeds and nearby Halifax. The closeness of the two would normally suggest a direct connection between the two, however a thorough study by Harold Ingham has shown that the two groups were distinct as far back as 1200 and since this is back to the time of surname formation, one can conclude the two Ingham groups are unrelated.[1] Similar logic can be applied to such surnames as Smith - which in the extreme could descend uniquely from as many villages and towns around 1200 that had resident blacksmiths.

Sometimes tracing the origin of a surname is relatively easy. Some unusual surnames can be traced back to a particular miss-spelling or mutation of a more common surname, other lines can be linked into a blue-blood family who'se ancestry can then be traced back to Norman England and maybe beyond to France.

This, however, is rare. Most surnames can be traced back to about 1600 when parish registers began recording baptisms, marriages and burials. Prior to this the vast majority of people were not of the upper class, then as now, and lived their lives in obscurity.

Briefly summarising the general principle of surname origins. (See [1] for a more thorough discussion on this). Standardised surnames began to come into use in the 12th and 13th centuries, generally they fall into five groups:

1. Based on the first or font name of an ancestor (eg. mother or father, Williams, Roberts, Johnson, Hannah etc).
2. Based on occupation or status of an ancestor (eg. Butcher, Page, Smith etc.).
3. Based on a nickname or description of an ancestor (eg. Whitehead, Crookshank, Black etc.).
4. Topographical names such as Atwood, Bywater, Underhill and perhaps names such as Sidebottom and Banks. Some of these names can also be locative.
5. Locative names: these were the earliest surnames to be formed as the Norman lords took their surnames from their estates in either Britain or Normandy. For ordinary folk, these names arose when a man left his home town or village to live elsewhere at the period when surnames were becomming fixed and hereditary and would become known as, for example, "John of Ingham", which soon became "John Ingham".

Spread of the Dilnot family

Dilnot (and it's variants) is a rare surname and it is likely that most, if not all, Dilnot's share a common ancestry. Even today, with a mobile population, almost 1/3rd of all Dilnot's can be found living in Kent. As one travels back in time the Dilnot spread contracts to eastern Kent and then, finally, to the area around Sellindge.

The "Protestation Oath" of 1641 lists only four male Dilnot's (over 18yo) in all of England.[2] Namely John Dilnot (then of Denton), John Dilnot and his son, Thomas (both then of Barham) and Nicholas Dilnot (then of Ringwould).[2] Denton, Barham and Ringwould all lie to the North-East of Folkestone. Thomas died without issue, thus all Dilnot's today are most likely descended from either of these John's or Nicholas (my own ancestor).

Subsequent to this there appeared two clusters of Dilnot's, one around Sellindge and the other around Selling. Despite the similarity in spellings, the two locations are distinct - Sellindge (or Sellinge - the two are used interchangably by locals. I have used the former spelling to make a stronger distinction from Selling) lies a few miles west of Folkestone, in the south-east of Kent. Selling is a few miles south-east of Faversham, in the north of Kent. The distinction between the two is somewhat confused in that one of the earliest references to a Dilnot was from near Selling.

The appearance of these two clusters however dates only to the 1600's. Prior to this, all Dilnot's lived in the Sellindge area.[2] During the latter half of the fifteenth century the only mentions of Dilnot's anywhere were at Sellindge (9 references between 1464 and 1498).[2] There is no evidence at that time of Dilnots living anywhere else.[2]

The next question is, from where did the Dilnot's of Sellindge come from? Prior to 1464 there are only six definite mentions of Dilnot's and they all refer to John Dilnot, a freeman of Canterbury and date between 1392 and 1429.[2] The evidence thus indicates that at the start of the 15th century, there was but one Dilnot and he was of Canterbury.[13] All subsequent Dilnot's appear to be descendent's of this John Dilnot. This John Dilnot, or his immediate descendents, settled at Sellindge establishing the surname there, from whence it spread elsewhere.
 

The first Dilnot - a 'stranger'

The earliest known mention of the surname "Dilnot" (or a variant), is for John Dilnot who is listed amongst the "Intrantes" (literally 'strangers'[2]) of Canterbury in 1392, 1393 and again in 1394.[12] In 1395 he is listed as having purchased his Freedom of the City.[2,12] This would seem to indicate that he was a newcomer to the city and further that his father had not been a Freeman (the rank was hereditary).

In 1396 John Dilnot of Canterbury and his wife, Alice, sell a house and land at Throwley (near Selling and Faversham).[2,12] That Alice is mentioned in the sale indicates that the property may have been her's prior to her marriage to John, either as an only child or a widow. Either way, this would suggest that Alice may have come from the Throwley area (and not John).

The one remaining pre-1464 reference to a Dilnot was when Robert Tewsnothe became a Freeman of Canterbury by virtue of his marriage to Joanna, daughter of John Dilnot, in 1429.[2,12]

Where did this first John Dilnot come from? Lacking any evidence we must resort to speculation. John was born before 1370, probably in the 1360's. By 1392 he had arrived in Canterbury where he was listed as a 'stranger'. This could mean he was from the continent or merely from another part of England. By the mid 1390's he had married a propertied widow or heiress and became a Freeman of Canterbury. John and Alice had at least two children, Joanna known by name, who had married Robert Tewsnothe by 1429, and an unknown son who fathered the next generation, John (died 1501), Stephen (died 1502) and Roger (probably died in the 1490s).[2,12] Of these, only John had surviving sons.[2] There may have been other children, but if so they have left no trace. Apart from John, no Dilnot's are listed in the Freemen of Canterbury Rolls (which are complete from 1390 on), indicating none of John's son's remained in Canterbury and became Freemen of that city.[2,12] Most likely John, or a son, purchased land at Sellindge and the family moved there in the early to mid 1400's.

The name 'Dilnot' does suggests a Flemish or Walloon origin,[2] an idea further strengthened by the Flemish origin of Tewsnothe, John's son-in-law.[12]
 

Elnothington

Another possible origin for the name has arisen from the research of Brian Dilnot.[7] This deals with the manor of Elnothington, known in earlier days as 'Alnoitone'. In the Domesday Book, two manors are listed in the town of Hollingbourne. Hollingbourne Manor itself (belonging to the church) and Alnoitone, whose tenant was Hugh de Port.[3] At the time the manor was valued at £12, with 18 villages and 2.5 mills, a quite respectable sum.[3]

According to Hasted in his 'The History & Topographical Survey of the County of Kent', "In the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) the manor of Elnothington was held by William de Port ... after which it came into the possession of a family which assumed their surname from it and in a deed of Adam de Twisden, which bears the date in the 21st year of Edward I (1293), William de Elnothington is one of the witnesess to it."[6]

Quoting from Brian Dilnot:[7]

"The Eylnothintone's seem to disappear about the same time as the Dilnot's seem to start. The location of the Manor geographically fits with the Selling, Throwley, Faversham references to Dilnots. Having run this by a member of the Society of Genealogists who is a name specialist, he advises that where a family adopted a place as a surname, the geographical description at the end of the place name eg "ham" or "ton" was often dropped."[7] Thus de Elnothington to de Elnoth to D'elnoth .. Dilnot?

Brief History of Elnothington Manor

As mentioned above, the manor is mentioned in the Domesday Book as 'Alnoitone'.[3] The manor belonged to Bishop Odo, half brother to William the Conqueror, and Hugh de Port was the tenant.[3] The manor was in Hollingbourne, which is a few miles to the east of Maidstone.[3] The manor predates the Norman invasion, in the time of King Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), it was worth nine pounds and held by Osuuard from King Edward.[7]

About 1090, Odo, the bishop of Bayeux fell into disgrace and Alnoitone, among the rest of his estates, became confiscated to the Crown.[7] However the de Port family appears to have remained tenants. In 1100 the manor is listed as "Alnodentune" in the Domesday Monachorum.[7] In 1192 William de Port was listed as the tenant of "Eilnothyntone".[7] The manor appears in records in the 1200's several times as Eylnothington or slight variations.[7] By 1192, "Alnoitone" had become 'Elnothington'. No great surprise since Alnoitone was the Saxon name and the Normans were well known for replacing the old Saxon names sooner or latter with names (or variations) more familiar to the Norman tongue.

As Hasted notes, early during the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) the manor of was held by William de Port, but by 1293 it had passed from that family into the hands of the De Elnothington's.[6] It is probably safe to conclude that from 1066 to 1272 the manor was held by the de Port family, at least at tenants (whether they actually owned in in the latter years or held it from the crown is unknown at this stage).

Another piece of information may push the de Elnothington's ownership (and existence with that surname) back a few years is a court case in 1288 mentioned in the Greenwich Assizes.[8] The case involves the disposition of the estate of Walter Blodiner at Hartley. His nephew and heir John Eylnoth found a number of people in possession of 31 acres of the farm in 6 holdings.[8] He sued for possession, but they in turn claimed Walter Blodiner had sold the land to them.[8] The fact that henceforth this end of Church Road had a number of smallholdings, shows that the defendants must have prevailed.[8] Was John Eylnoth a member of the de Elnothington family (sometimes spelt Eylnothinton)? If so it would push the de Elnothington ownership of Elnothington Manor back to 1288, and likely earlier.

Sometime between 1272 and 1293 the manor then passed into the hands of the de Elnothington family. The first generation of which almost certainly would have been the William de Elnothington mentioned by Hasted in 1293.[6] In 1308 there is a reference to an Eylnotendene and during the reign of Edward II (1307-1327) 'Nicholas son of Nicholas Eylnoth and Margeria, his wife' was taken to court over debts, with a 91 acre estate at Cranebroke (Cranbrook).[7]

In 1347, William de Eylnothinton is mentioned in a list of Kentish assessments in connection with the Black Prince.[7] This seems to imply that the manor was owned by the Black Prince, with the de Eylnothinton's as tenants.

The manor did not remain long in the hands of the de Eylnothinton's, however. In 1350 the manor Elnothington came into the possession of Sir Ralph De St. Leger, sherrif of Kent and member of parliment.[4] Ralph died 1359 and had children: Sir Ralph, Henry, Sir Arnold, Bartholomew and Eleanor.[4] Sometime between 1600 and 1660, Elnothington Manor was then purchased by Sir Thomas Culpepper from Sir Warham St. Leger.[5] Presumably the manor had either remained in the St Leger family from 1350 to the early 1600's or at some stage the family had sold and then required the manor prior to it's sale to Culpepper. Incidently, several generations of Culpepper's were buried at Hollingbourne, including Sir Thomas, his father and his son, Thomas Jr.[5]

Did the Eylnothington's remain tenants of the manor under the St Leger's or were they dispossed, each member of the family seeking lands and fortune elsewhere in Kent and beyond? If so, did one of these dispossed de Eylnothington's become a Dilnot?
 

Elnothington's and/or Eylnoth's

In his article, Brian Dilnot has reasonably assumed that the de Eylnothinton and Eylnoth families are the same, the latter dropping the de and the locative ending. However is this a valid assumption? The de Eylnothinton's had taken possession of Elnothington by 1293, but no earlier than 1272, and taken on the name of the manor. The Eylnoth family, however, was already established by 1288. It is still possible that the two are the same, but the possibility that the Eylnoth's predate the unnamed family who came into possession of Elnothington and took on it's name cannot be dismissed. The court case mentioned above involving Nicholas Eylnoth took place at Cranbrook, which is less than 2 miles from Hartley. In 1288 John Eylnoth presumably obtained possession of that part of his uncle's lands which were not claimed by the others - this included 14 acres and the main house. Given the proximity of Cranbrook and Hartley it seems a more likely scenario that Nicholas Sr and Jr of Cranbrook were in fact either descendents of John or near relatives. This, of course, does not disprove the de Elnothington connection. John Eylnoth may have come from his father's (?) home at Elnothington to secure his inheritance in 1288, in which case Elnothington Manor had passed from the de Port's to the de Elnothington's before 1288.

One must also keep in mind that one of the reasons for considering the Dilnot - de Eylnothinton connection is the similarity in the names (taking into account known patterns of name change) and that the first Dilnot's appeared not far from Elnothington Manor. The Eylnoth's of Cranbrook, on the other hand, were a considerable distance away, near the Sussex border in south-west Kent.

The 1334/1335 Kent Lay Subsidy Roll mentions several Eylnoth's.[8] In the Hundred of Faversham John Eylnoth (6s.8d.), in the Hundred of Tenterden John Eylnoth (3s.0d.) and in the Hundred of Cranbrook the heirs of Henry Eylnoth (6s.0d).[8]

Tenterden and Cranbook are reasonably close, whilst Faversham is in the far north of Kent, some 20 miles away, further by road. The John and Henry of Tenterdon and Cranbrook, respectively, are almost certainly closely related to the Nicholas and John Eylnoth's associated with Cranbrook and Hartley, respectively, prior to 1334.

Is John of Faversham related to the other Eylnoth's? And what is the connection, if any, between this John and John Dilnot who appears in Throwley in 1390, only a few miles from Faversham. And finally, what connection, if any, is there between the Eylnoth's and the de Elnothington's?

1288 is the earliest record I have seen mentioning the Eylnoth surname, however there are numerous references to "Ailnoth" prior to this date. During the reign of Henry II, there was an engineer by the name of Ailnoth, in charge of many royal building projects.[7]

In Kent 'Feet of Fines for 1218' there appears the entry:

Ospringe – Faversham. Pet:(Q) Ailnoth D: Simon, son of Hervey, Capellanus. 1/2 acre of land and 2 messuages in Ospringe and Faversham. Recognizance of mort d'ancestor. Q quitclaimed from himself and his heirs to D and his heirs, and for this D gave Q 1/2 acre of land in Selling in the field which is called Berge near the land of Q towards the west, to hold of the chief lords by the service which belongs to that half acre.[10]

As a final note, it has been suggested that the reverse scenario may be possible - that an early Ailnoth, rather than taking his name from Elnothington, had actually given his name to the place. The place name would then mean "settlement of Ailnoth's people".[9] Whilst it is quite possible that Elnothington (or Alnoitone) was named after an early Ailnoth, the manor was known as Alnoitone prior to 1066 and this was before the formation of surnames. Any Ailnoth of that time would have been known simply as Ailnoth, not a family name. If the de Eylnothinton's, Eylnoth's, and Dilnot's did indeed take their names from Elnothington Manor, that would mean a rather circular origin for the surname!
 

Summary

It seems well established that the earliest known Dilnot was John Dilnot of Canterbury, around 1400, from whom all Dilnot's today descend. Was John a Flemish or Walloon refugee? The 1390's was not a peak time for refugees from the Lowlands (Belgium, Holland etc) settling in England, however there were some. It's unlikely that John came from elsewhere in England since Dilnot appears nowhere else in England this early. This specifically includes Kent - Alan Dilnot has done an exhaustive study of Kentish records and has failed to find any reference to a Dilnot prior to 1392.

Or was Dilnot a corruption of Eylnothinton? 1390 is a bit late for surname formation, however one should keep into mind that even into the 20th century new surnames have arisen through spelling errors and deliberate choice. The Eastes of Kent, whom my Dilnot ancestors married into, were Ewstace's in the early 1500's, Eastes by 1600 and Estes, Estridges and even Etheridges in the USA.

Which of these two scenarios (if not an unknown third) gave rise to the Dilnot name is unknown and may likely never be known. However, we can at least point to John Dilnot of Canterbury (abt.1360 to after 1429) and say he was the first known Dilnot.
 

References:

[1] "Origins of the Ingham Family", http://triode.net.au/~dragon/ft/ingham-0.html, David Powell.
[2] Research by Alan Dilnot, adilnot@bigpond.net.au.
[3] "The Lost Manor and Church of Elnothington", Allen Grove, printed in Archaelogica Cantiana, 1984. Copy from Brian Dilnot, dilnotb@aol.com.
[4] "Sir Ralph De St. Leger", Nigel Batty-Smith, http://web.ukonline.co.uk/nigel.battysmith/Database/D0030/I7225.html.
[5] "Sir Thomas Culpeper, the Elder", on "The Culpepper Family History Site", http://gen.culpepper.com/historical/thomas.htm.
[6] "The History & Topographical Survey of the County of Kent", Edward Hasted Sr, 1798. Cited in "A Suggested Origin of the Dilnot Family Name", Brian Dilnot, dilnotb@aol.com, 2003, unpublished.
[7] "A Suggested Origin of the Dilnot Family Name", Brian Dilnot, dilnotb@aol.com, 2003, unpublished. Sources therein cited.
[8] "Hartley History - 13th and 14th Century Assize Cases", extracted on: http://www.hartley-kent.org.uk/history/court_1300.htm. Original source: PRO JUST1/372 folio 12.
[9] Alan Dilnot, cited in a letter by Brian Dilnot, 10/6/2003.
[10] Letter from Brian Dilnot, dilnotb@aol.com, 24/6/2003.
[11] Letter from Alan Dilnot to Brian Dilnot, forwarded by Brian Dilnot. Undated.
[12] Letter from Alan Dilnot, adilnot@bigpond.net.au, 15/10/2003.
[13] For more details on this John Dilnot, refer to http://www.triode.net.au/~dragon/ft/l-dilnot.txt.