This name is of English locational origin from a place thus called in Warwickshire. Recorded as Brichelawa in 1130 and as Brinkelawe in the 1201 Pipe Rolls of that County, the name derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "brinc(e)" meaning the brink of a hill or steep slope, plus "hlaw", a burial mound. The surname is first recorded towards the end of the 12th Century, (see below). It is particularly well recorded in London Church Registers from the mid 16th Century. On September 3rd 1540 William Brincklow, an infant, was christened in St. Lawrence Jewry and St. Mary Magdalene, Milk street, London, and on October 8th 1593, Agnes Brincklow and George Milborne were married in St. Dunstan's, Stepney. One of the earliest recorded of the name in Warwickshire was the christening of one, Alice Brincklow in Corley. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Brinkelawa, which was dated 1190, in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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.