This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from a place so called in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The placename is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "loca", enclosure, or the Olde English "locen", closed, enclosed, with the Olde English "tun", enclosure, farm. The placename was first recorded as "Lochetun" in the Domesday Book of 1086; as "Loketon" in the Pipe Rolls of 1167; and as "Lokinton" in the Feet of Fines of 1198. 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. One John Lockton was recorded in St. Michael's Parish, Barbados, on October 17th 1678; he was one of the earliest recorded bearers of the name in the New World Colonies. Today the surname is very rare in Yorkshire, but is well recorded in Lancashire; the marriage being recorded of William Lockton and Alice Heaton, on January 31st 1665, at Warwick. A Coat of Arms granted to a Lockton family from Yorkshire is silver on a chevron azure a martlet of the first within a bordure engrailed of the second. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas Lockton, which was dated May 17th 1584, marriage to Issabell Richard, at Rossington, Yorkshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 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.1558 - 1603.

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