There are sixty-four names under the heading “Sutton in Colefeld” in a list of taxpayers called the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1329. This was a time when surnames as we know them were coming into use, but half of the names were still descriptive. There were several Williams, for example, William atte (at the) Green, William othe (of the) Green, William atte Gortes (at the gorse bushes), William de la Mor (of the Moor), William Letekedin (of the intake), William Pistor (baker), William le Parker, William le Ferour (blacksmith), and William Faber (craftsman); another ten Williams already had recognisable surnames that would pass on to their descendants.
In the record of a court held in Sutton on the twentieth October 1416 there are 127 names. Only eight of them are of the Attewood and Othehurst type, and these were now family names passed down the generations, with the possible exception of William ate Wilde. William and Thomas Baker were indeed bakers, and Thomas Mulward was the miller, but not all the Smiths were smiths, and Symon Mustardmaker did not deal in mustard. Perhaps the Constable, Thomas Mason, was Sutton’s master builder and stonemason, and maybe a descendant of the Adam le Mason in the 1329 list. Many of the names show that people from other places had come to live in Sutton - there are Binleys, Grendons, Irelands, Kyderminsters, Lyntons. Shropshires, Walmleys, Whateleys and Wyfords.
The names in the October 1549 court roll are all recognisable surnames. Othehurst is now Hurst, while Robert and Ralph Mustard are descendants of Symon Mustardmaker - Robert was a baker, Ralph was fined for overpricing his ale. There are Gibbons, Keenes, Harmans and Veseys, all descendants of Bishop Vesey’s nieces, nephews and cousins - other prominent citizens are listed in order of their rank: Anthony Ley knight, Thomas Ardern Esquire, John Massey gentleman. John Jackson, one of the three innkeepers listed, is the only example of a surname denoting “son of” which was common elsewhere.
The names of most of the poorer people of Sutton do not appear on these lists, the first complete record of all the households being the Hearth Tax returns of 1663, when over 300 surnames are given. Many of the surnames from the 1549 roll had died out by 1663, and the number of changes between the 1663 tax and another 1674 list shows that there was plenty of interchange between Sutton and neighbouring districts, but some names, such as Pickerell, Crathorne, Sedgewick and Whorwood persisted for centuries.
