This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from some minor, unrecorded, or now "lost" village, believed to have been in Somerset. The prime cause of village "disappearance" was the enforced "clearing" and dispersal of the former inhabitants to make way for sheep pastures at the height of the wool trade from the 15th Century onwards, along with natural causes such as the Black Death of 1348, in which an eighth of the population perished. The component elements of the placename are believed to be the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Crioda" or "Creoda" with "land", estate, landed property, portion of a village, district. This personal name is also found in Cridling, Yorkshire, recorded as "Cridelinc" in 1157. In the modern idiom the name is spelt: Cridland, Cridlin, Credland and Creedland. On November 3rd 1587, John Cridland and Mary Trott were married in Spaxton, Somerset, and on July 20th 1597, the marriage of Thomas Credland to Agnes Northover took place at Aller, Somerset. A Coat of Arms granted to the Cridland family of Somerset is an ermine shield with three silver roses on a red chevron, the Crest being two dexter hands conjoined, issuing from clouds proper. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ellen Cridland, which was dated January 1580, marriage to Aldred Bickham at Spaxton, Somerset, during the reign of Elizabeth 1, known as "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.