This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from places called Balderston, and Balderstone in Lancashire, deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Baldhere", plus "tun", enclosure, farm. Balderston appears as "Balderestone" (1172), in the History of Whalley, and as "Baldreston" (1256), in the Feet of Fines, and Balderstone appears as "Baldreston" (1323), in the Court Rolls. During the Middle Ages when it was increasingly common for people to migrate from their birthplace to seek work further afield, the custom developed that they would adopt the placename as a means of identification. The spellings of the surname range from Balderston, Balderstone, Balderson, Belderson to Bolderson and Boulderson. London Church Records list the marriage of William Balderstone to Alys Charnoke on January 18th 1545 at St. Margaret's, Westminster, and of Abraham Balderson to Sarah Badderley on October 25th 1801 at St. Luke's, Old Street, Finsbury. A Coat of Arms granted to the family is silver, a black cross, in chief two black crosses crosslet fitchee. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Baldreston, which was dated 1292, in the "Coucher Book or Chartulary of Whalley Abbey", Lancashire, 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.