This is an English surname, although one which is probably associated, at least in meaning, with the Scottish surname Kirkwood. Recorded in many spellings including Corwood, Curwood, Kerwood, Keerewood, Kirwood, and probably others, it is apparently locational, and like the Scottish surname describes a church in a wood. This is from the pre 7th century Olde English "kyrche-wudu". However there are too many spellings in the diocese of Greater London in the 17th century for the surname to be from the Lanarkshire village of Kirkwood, suggesting that in England the surname is a "lost" village name. An estimated three thousand Britisah Isles villages have been "lost" and the surviving surname in its many forms, often remains the only public reminder in the 20th century of its existence. Early examples of surname recordings taken from the surviving registers of Greater London include: Alice Keerwood, who married Tom Metcalfe at St Botolphs without Bishopgate, on August 18th 1578, Avery Kirwood who was christened at St Giles Cripplegate, on December 11th 1715, Charles Curwood, a witness also at St Giles Cripplegate, on November 18th 1744, and Catherine Kerwood, the daughter of John Kerwood, who was christened at St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, on October 6th 1811.

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