Origins

Origin of the Fullwood family name

Historians, Lyson and Thomas Bateman both record the FULWOOD’s were an ancient family indicating they were of Norman decent. They also imply this ancient family adopted their family name from the Parish of FULWOOD located near Preston in Lancashire. This is untrue as no record has yet been found to support this theory of Lancashire origins during the 11th century. It is more likely that the Lancashire place name of “Fulwood” near Preston derived its name from an old English name meaning a fowl smelling or a dark wooded area. There are two other places with the name of “Fullwood” in the north of England. The first lies on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire (near Pinxton and Hucknall) believed to be ESNOTREWIC or sometimes called SNODSWIC in the Domesday book and there is a second which is a suburb of Sheffield. Both locations may have obtained their names from members of the Fulwood family who owned land there and may have connections back to the main branch of Warwickshire of Fullwood’s. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has further information. Fullwood Pedigree William Dugdale’s 17th century pedigree of the FULWOOD’s states the origin of the family lies in the Warwickshire parish of Wootten Wawen. A book written about the Vyner family refers to the “FULWOOD” family originating in the 12th century when Drugo “NORMANNUS”, Lord of the Manor of Whitley in Wootten Wawen parish Warwickshire. The name “FULWOOD” first appears in a pedigree which shows 4 generations from the proginator Drugo or Drew, he had three descendants. The first descendant retains the family name of William de Whitley; the second is named Richard de Fulwood and the third is Robert de Fulwood named after land of that name acquired from Thurston de MONTFORT Lord of the Manor of Beaudesert Warwickshire in the reign of Henry II.  [AD 1154 to AD 1189]. “Robert de FULWOOD” soon afterwards changes his name again to “de Offord” also named after an area of land of that name in Wootten Wawen parish.   Close to the village of Nuthurst on the other side of the present day M40 motorway is the village of Tanworth in Arden. Various historians state that between Nuthurst and Tanworth the manor of “Fulwode” was located there. One of the earliest written records of a Fullwood in Warwickshire was for a Richard de ffolwode who witnessed a deed concerning property in Nuthurst Warwickshire dated AD 1272. It should be noted that throughout the medieval period, Robert and Richard appear to be  interchangeable first names within the Fulwood family. Surname variations In the course of tracing FULLWOOD genealogy quite a number of different spellings of the surname have been encountered. These are most of the spellings encountered below:- FFOLEWODE, FULWODE, FULLEWOOD, FULLEWOD, FULLWOODE, FULWOOD, FULLWOOD, FULWARD, FULLWARD, FULLWORD, FILWOOD, FOOLWOOD, FOULEWOOD. There are also connections to the surnames of OFFORD, FOULEHURST, FULLER, FULLARD and FULFORD. Locations Within the UK, FULLWOOD families have been recorded in the parish records of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Middlesex/London, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire.  There are also records of FULLWOOD’s in the Counties of Leicester, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The Warwickshire branch of “Fullwood’s”, which is the oldest, had generations of Fullwood’s living in this area for nearly 900 years. Communities associated with Fullwood’s are: Aston Cantlow, Snitterfield, Little Alne, Great Alne, Wilmcote, Tanworth-in-Arden and Wootten Wawen. By looking at the number of parish records in England and even census entries most branches of Fullwood’s are centred within three geographical areas. The first is centred on Warwickshire, a second in Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire counties and a third in Staffordshire and the Black Country which has been the home of Fullwood’s since the early 16th century in places such as: - Dudley, Sedgley, Bilston, Tipton, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis, West Bromwich, Whittington near Lichfield, and Wolverhampton.