Lashbrook

There are several places called Lashbrook in England, which can claim to be the home of this surname. However three of them are to be found in the county of Devonshire, and this is for most nameholders almost certainly the place of origin. Curiously though not one of the places survive as villages, they are all today known only as 'localities', and it would seem that the villages from which the name is derived have vanished. This is itself is not so unusual. It is estimated that over three thousand surnames of the British Isles do originate from 'lost' medieval villages, of which the only public reminder in the late 20th century is often the surname itself. There is also some confusion as to the actual meaning of the name as it is a compound of which the two elements may well mean the same thing. The prefix 'Lash' derives from the Ancient British word 'laec' which could mean a stream, a small lake or just water, whilst 'broc' was Olde English, and also meant a stream, and may have had the other dual meanings. Early examples of the surname recording taken from surviving church registers of Devonshire include Walter Lashbrooke of Hatherleigh on August 31st 1565, and later Typhanie Laishbrooke, so much for spelling, who was recorded at Belstone, near Okehampton, on August 10th 1619.