This surname is of locational origin and is believed to derive ultimately from one or other of the placenames Bramall in Cheshire or Sheffield. The word itself is a compound in the original Old English, from "Brum", that is the broom-plant and "Halh-Healh", referring in its primary meaning to a corner or retired place; and in its specialist Northern meaning to a piece of fertile ground by a river. Bramhill is one of the rarer spellings of the surname known under its variants, Brammell, Bramhall, Bramah, Brammer, Bramble, Brummell. Some typical entries in Yorkshire Church Registers for example are the marriage of one Janne Bramhill to Samuel Smith on the 7th of November 1620 at Pontefract or later the christening of Ann Bramhill daughter of John and Ann on the 16th January 1819 at Thorne, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Matthew de Bromale, which was dated 1150, Records of Cheshire, during the reign of King Stephen, "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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