This name, with variant spellings Schoales, Scholes, Scoles and Scoyles, derives from the Northern medieval English "scale" or "sc(h)ole", ultimately from the Old Norse "skali", a hut or temporary shelter, and was originally given either as a topographical name to someone who lived by such a shed, or as a locational name to one from any of the places named with the above word. These places include Scales in Cumberland and Lancashire; Scholes, (The West Riding of Yorkshire), and Scole, (Norfolk). The surname is first recorded in the latter part of the 13th Century, (see below). Other early recordings include: Adam de Scoles, witness "The Assize Court Rolls of Lancashire", (1285); Thomas del Scales, (Cumberland, 1332) and Robert Scales of Hauxhead, "The Lancashire Wills at Richmond", (1591). Thomas de Scales, seventh Baron Scales, seneschal of Normandy, circa 1434; commanded in fight against John Cade on London Bridge, 1450, and assisted in defence of Tower of London, 1460. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard del Scoles, which was dated 1275, in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire, 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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