Recorded as Fishpond, Fishpool and Fishpoole, this is an English surname. As Fishpool it is locational from a village near Mansfield in the county of Nottinghamshire, or perhaps from Fishpool, a locality or suburb of the town of Bury in Lancashire. In the case of Fishpond there are three parishes called Fishponds near the city of Bristol, and one in Dorset. It is also possible that the surname is topographical and to have described somebody who lived at a fish pool or pond. Locational surnames were usually the earliest to be created, as the easiest way to identify a stranger was to call him or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. The surname is well recorded in the surviving church registers of the city of London from at least the reign of King Charles 11nd, (1660 - 1685), and includes that of Mary Fishpool, who married John Delaforce at St Pancras Old Church, on June 7th 1684, whilst in Lancashire Betty Fishpond is recorded at Hindley on July 15th 1833, and Thomas Fishpool at St Peters, Liverpool, on February 15th 1865. Pools or lakes for intensive fish farming were often attached to or associated with the monasteries, and the closure of most of these by King Henry V111th in about 1535 may be the reason why "Fishpools" are not more numerous both as place names and surnames. The very first known recording of the surname is believed to be that of Julian atte Ffispole, in the London Close Rolls, in the reign of King Edward 1st, 1272 - 1307.

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