Recorded as Caldicote, Caldecot, Caldecourt, Calcutt, Calket, Caulket, and many, many, others, this is an English locational surname of truly ancient origins. It derives from the pre 7th century descriptive phrase 'ceald - cote' which literally translates as 'cold cottage' or possibly 'cold croft'. It is associated with the Roman roads of Britain and in particularly their crossing points. At these places, and there were quite a number of them 'cealde cotes' were built essentially to store goods as well as food such as meat and sometimes fish. A thousand years later in the period from about 1600 to 1880 this Roman method of storage was repeated when 'ice houses' were widely created for the same reasons, to store perishable goods particularly in summer. These new places rarely if ever produced surnames, as these were created between 1066, the Norman Invasion of England, and 1485 by which time England was fully formed, although very primitive. The surviving records suggest that this name was one of the earliest surnames with Henry de Caudecote of Buckinghamshire, appearing in the Hundred Rolls rolls of 1273, and Albin de Caldicote in the far north county of Northumberland in the same year. Later examples taken from the city of London church registers include William Cauldecott at the church of St Stephen Benet, on June 29th 1579, and later Charles Collcut at the church of St Lawrence Jewry, on March 16th 1674. Before about 1850 surname spellings, particularly in large cities like London, often changed between generations, as education was minimal, local dialects very thick, and only about one in ten males and even fewer females were able to do much more than sign their name.

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