This most interesting surname is of English locational origin from Greendale, a hamlet near Exmouth, Devon and a locality in the Macclesfield rural district of Cheshire. The former placename appeared as "Grendel" circa 1200 in the Torre Abbey Cartulary and "Grendell" in the Charter Rolls of 1200. Both placenames are composed of the elements "gren", the Olde English word for green and "dael", a valley, hence the "green valley". 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. Willmus, son of Edwardi Grenedaile, was christened on August 18th 1598 at Runston, Yorkshire. One Ellen Grendall married John Walker on July 23rd 1601 at Dewsbury in Yorkshire. Elizabeth Greendale married Jeremiah Holroyd on January 5th 1804 at Manchester Cathedral in Lancashire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jonn Greyndal, which was dated January 15th 1580 marriage to Isabelle Waltonn at Dalton in Furness, Lancashire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, "Good Queen Bess", 1558-1603. 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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