This most interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is an English locational name from Disley, in Cheshire, which was recorded as "Distislegh" in 1285, in the "Inquisitiones post Mortem" of the county. The placename itself was composed of the Olde English pre 7th Century elements "dic" (Norman "dis"), an earthen enclosure, embankment, plus "ticce", a kid goat, and "leah" ("ley"), a clearing in a wood, hence "an enclosed place where goats were kept". Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. The surname, which first appears in records in the late 13th Century (see below), is also found in the modern idiom as Dislee, Deesly and Dizlie, and is well recorded in Lancashire Church Registers from the mid 16th Century. One John de Distelegh was recorded in 1308, in "Records of East Cheshire", while John Disly married Ellen Bell on October 30th 1542 at Croston, in Lancashire. Margery Disley was christened on June 21st 1544, also at Croston, while Thomas Disley married Allis Snart on April 24th 1579 at Croston. In London, John Disley married Margarett Poore on June 5th 1601, at the Church of St. Mary Madgalene's, Bermondsey. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jordan de Distelegh, which was dated 1273, in the "Records of East Cheshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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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