Do Your Bit For The Environment

This week sees the start in Grasby of a series of mini-projects financed by CSV Action Earth and Morrisons. The amount of money is small but it is just enough to put on an event that can make a large difference. The criteria are that it must be environmental so could be bird cakes, boxes, feeding stations or planting wildflowers. If you are interested then go to the website and get an application form and enjoy the community work.
The names that came up during the first mini project consist of font-names and locations. BENNETT for example comes from the Old French Beneit that became the quite common Christian name Benedict in the 12th century. ROBERTSON along with the hundreds of other names ending in -SON very nearly all come from a Christian name such as Robert, Richard or William whose male offspring became ROBERTSON, RICHARDSON and WILLIAMSON and so on down through the centuries. Still on the subject of William as a Christian name we have in Grasby the name GILLMAN. Although it does not look much like it the name William is the origin here. The French for William we twinners know from Sillè le Guillaume which is the town next to our twin village in France. The surnames from the same root are many and various and include such as WELLMAN, WILLIMAN and the one nearest to the original, GUILLERMAN. On the other hand HASWELL is a locational name and comes from the dweller whose home was at a well that had lots of hazels around it. Similarly a prime site on which to live was one that was good enough to be labelled a fair field and naturally enough that resulted in the surname of FAIRFIELD. A slightly different type of location is that of LAYCOCK for this is a parish by the same name. In this case it is most likely to be Laycock in the west riding of Yorkshire.
A question of interest that appeared recently on the ‘net is that of Kath HEYWOOD who is looking for the youngest children of Mary & Robert GOLLING of Grantham. The mystery comes about by the death of the parents in 1842. William aged 10 years just disappears and is never seen again it seems for neither the death nor marriage can be found. Susannah age 6 years is thought to have lived in Lancashire for some time and where she had an illegitimate daughter in 1864. Where did they disappear too? Drop me a line if you know. The name GOLLING is another of those with a Christian name origin. This has the same origin as JOLLANDS and GOLLANDS. All these are from Joel-in which is the diminutive of Joel.
Bits and Bobs
THE GRIMSBY GUARDIAN AND GENERAL ADVERTISER - 25th September 1855 - Christopher HARPER, apprentice to Joseph APPLEYARD of Cleethorpes, tailor, John ROBINSON of Cleethorpes, fisherman, Thomas GRANT of Cleethorpes, fisherman and George DABB, carrier between Cleethorpes and Grimsby, were summoned at the instance of Superintendent CAMPBELL, who caught them in a garden in the parish of Scartho, on Sunday night, the 16th instant, stealing apples. They were each fined 10s and the costs, in each case amounted to 12s