This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from any one of the places called Caldwell in North Yorkshire and Warwickshire; Cauldwell in Bedfordshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire; and other places named with the same elements, such as Chadwell, Chardwell and Caudle Green. The place in Yorkshire was recorded as "Caldeuuella" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and shares with all the other places mentioned the same meaning and derivation, which is "the cold spring, or stream", from the Olde English pre 7th Century "cald, ceald", cold, with "well, waell", spring, stream or well. The surname is also found in Scotland, where it derives from Caldwell in Renfrewshire. The surname first appears in the late 12th Century (see below), and Richard de Coldewell was noted in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Returns of 1379. There are a great many variants of the modern surname ranging from Caldwell, Cau(l)dwell and Cawdell, to Couldwell and Cholwell. Recordings from London Church Registers include: the marriage of Robert Coldwell and Agnes Hanshawe on May 1st 1547, at St. Mary le Bow, and the christening of Nycolas Coldwell on October 10th 1555, at St. James', Garlickhithe. A Coat of Arms granted to the Coldwell family is a blue shield with a silver cross moline. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam de Caldwella, which was dated 1195, in the "Pipe Rolls of Derbyshire", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "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.

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