This name is of English locational origin from either of two places thus called, Crowhurst in Surrey and in Sussex. The latter, recorded as Croghyrst in "The Anglo - Saxon Chronicle", dated 772 A.D. has as its first element the Olde English pre 7th Century "croh", meaning "a corner or a narrow valley", plus "hyrst", a hill; hence, "a corner or recess in a chain of hills". The former, recorded as Craweherst in the 1189 Pipe Rolls of that county, derives its name from the Olde English "Crawa", a Craw, plus "hurst", a wood. During the middle ages when migration for the purpose of job seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. The surname is first recorded at the beginning of the 13th Century, (see below). One, Walter de Cro(u)herst appears in the "Hundred Rolls of Sussex", dated 1273, and in 1777 William Ansell and Mary Crowhurst were married in St. George's Church, Hanover Square, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger de (of) Croherst, which was dated 1200, in the "Canterbury Cathedral Archives", Kent, during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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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