Chalcraft

This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and can be either a topographical or a locational surname. If the former, the surname means "the dweller at the cold croft", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "ceald", cold, with "croft", a paddock, an arable enclosure normally adjoining a house. The surname from this source can be found as "Calcraft", "Chalcraft", "Chalcroft" and "Choldcroft". The second possible meaning of the name "Calcraft" is as a variant form of the locational name "Chalcroft", which derives from the place so called in Hampshire, from the Olde English "cealf", calf, and "croft", as before. The surname from this source may also be topographical, denoting residence by 'the calves's croft", and can be found as "Chalcraft", "Chalcroft" and "Calcraft". One William Caldcroft is recorded in "Register of the Freeman of the City of York" in 1441. Robert Calcraft was christened on the 26th October 1684 at St. Giles, Cripplegate, in London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas de Chalvecroft (witness), which was dated 1272, in the "Hampshire Assize Rolls", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.