Glazebrook

Recorded as Glazebrook, Glasebrook, Glasbrook, Glassbrooke, and probably others, this is an English locational surname. It originates from Glazebrook, a village near the town of Warrington in the county of Cheshire. The name means "shiny (or perhaps clear) water." Locational surnames are usually "from" names. That is to say names given either to the local lord of the manor and his descendants, or increasingly after the 14th century when labour was becoming more mobile, to people as easy identification of a stranger, after they left their original village to live somewhere else. Spelling being at best indifferent and local dialects very thick, often lead to the creation of "sounds like" forms. This seems to have been the case here, with the first known recording being that of Elena de Glazebrok recorded in the Poll Tax register for the county of Yorkshire in 1379. The name also travelled down to London, and we have a recording in the time of King Charles 11nd (1660 - 1685) of Mary Glasebrooke, the daughter of Robert Glasebrooke, who was christened at the church of St Mary Backchurch, in the city of London, in 1675.