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In
Britain there are today only about 60 Burnells for every million of the
population so it is a relatively uncommon name. The earliest records of
baptisms from the 16th century show three distinct areas of England
where the majority of Burnells were concentrated - Devon, Shropshire
and West
Yorkshire. The earliest written reference to the name
dates from 1130 when a Robertus Burnellus was recorded in the Pipe
Rolls of the City of Oxford. Other early references are Burnellus de
Aumiell in the Curia Regis rolls of Yorkshire in 1200, and William
Burnel, recorded in Lincoln in 1197. The earliest reference to Burnells
in Shropshire is the death of Thomas Burnell in 1195. His lease of the
manor of Albrightlee passed to his brother William, whose son later
seized the abbey of Lilleshall.
Robert
Burnell - Archbishop of Canterbury
The most famous Burnell of these early years was Robert Burnell
(c1239-1292)
from the Shropshire family who served Prince Edward, later
Edward I. He was twice elected Archbishop of Canterbury, but the Pope
refused to confirm the appointment due to his private life (a long-term
mistress). He served as Lord Chancellor from 1274 until his death, and
as Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1275. He built the castle at Acton
Burnell in Shropshire and acquired extensive estates there and in
Devon (Crooke Burnell), Worcestershire (Wick Burnell), Gloucestershire
(Little Rissington), Somerset (Upton Noble, and North
Cheriton), Warwickshire (Bidford and Burnell's Broom), Herfordshire
(Letchworth), Kent (Rotherhithe, Hatcham and East Wickham), Essex (East
and West Ham Burnells), Surrey (Sheen and Ewell), Yorkshire
(Osmotherley and Morton on Swale), and elsewhere. In total he owned
82 manors of which 21 were in Shropshire. It should be noted that
Holcombe Burnell in Devon is nothing to do with the Burnell family,
being a corruption of Berner,
the original owner.
Robert left no legitimate
descendants, the estates passing to his nephew, Philip Burnell and
thence to Philip's son Edward, the first and last Lord
Burnell. Edward left no male heir, and the estates went to
Nicholas de Handlo, the son of his sister Maud by her second husband.
Nicholas adopted the name Burnell, and the estates passed to
his son Hugh. Hugh's only son Edward was killed in the battle of
Agincourt and the barony fell into abeyance. Some of the
estates went to Edward's sisters and some were claimed by the Lovel
family (John Lovel was Maud's son by her first marrriage). While it is
possible that the Burnells recorded in Shropshire in
the 16th Century are in some way related to Robert Burnell's family,
the only link to the Burnells in Devon
and Yorkshire is that these were two of the many places Robert Burnell
owned land.
Origin
of the name
Hereditary surnames were first introduced by the Norman
barons after 1066 and the usage was slowly adopted by commoners over
the next 300 years. There are two main theories for the origin of the
name - that it was derived from brunn meaning
someone of dark complexion plus the diminutive el (a short form
of little).
Alternatively, and perhaps more likely, it may be residential
and derived from places called Burnt-hill
or Burnhill.
Name spellings did not become fixed until the nineteenth century, and
in my direct line I have found the name spelt variously as Burnel,
Burnil, Burnill and Burnhill, as well as the occasional more exotic
spelling. People chose surnames they thought were appropriate, and it
is quite possible there were 'burnt hills' both in Devon and Yorkshire
with no connection between them. I cannot even prove that
there is a
direct connection between my line and the other Burnell families in
West Yorkshire - all I can say with certainty is that if there is a
connection, it is before 1600.
Distribution
It is interesting that the name is strongly localised,
and that this geographical concentration persists over the centuries,
albeit with some gradual movement. This suggests that there may be
distant family links, at least within the individual localities. I have
analysed the distribution of Burnell births for successive periods of
50
years from 1500 to 1949 and the results are plotted
here.
This analysis shows that the Burnells in
Shropshire gradually died out
or moved away, until there were virtually none left by the mid
nineteenth century. One the other hand, Devon has retained its
relatively high proportion of Burnells and from 1600 a new
concentration developed in Gloucestershire, later spreading to Somerset
and South Wales. Like Devon, West Yorkshire has continued to be a
Burnell stronghold through to the present day, with some growth to the
north in Durham.
For a time during the later 17th and early 18th century there was a
cluster of Burnells in Sussex, but this was temporary. The 18th century
saw a new cluster developing in Buckinghamshire and this persists to
the present day. The number of Burnells in London has consistently been
large in absolute terms, but as a proportion of the total population
they are much fewer than in Devon and Buckinghamshire.
From their English origins, Burnells have spread out across the world.
The name is now as common in Australia as it is in Britain, 60-70% as
common in Canada and New Zealand, and 43% as common in the United
States. There are relatively few Burnells in Scotland and Ireland and
very few in non-English speaking countries. In Britain, the top towns
are Taunton, Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff, Coventry, Nottingham, Hemel
Hempstead, Exeter and Bridgend.
See distribution of Burnells from
the 2012
electoral register.
Sources: Spatial-Literacy
Project, Leicester University (surname profile service withdrawn 2020)
Name Origin
Research Limited
British History
Online
Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography
plus
original research.
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