Am I really related to William the Conqueror??

[smudwhisk]

Not quite back to 1066,,,yet.

About 600 years short isn't it?   Just got to hope they're not in one of the Wiltshire parishes with missing registers when they appear on Ancestry.

[youngtug]

Not quite back to 1066,,,yet.

About 600 years short isn't it?   Just got to hope they're not in one of the Wiltshire parishes with missing registers when they appear on Ancestry.

When
Then of course, they are in that North East corner of Wiltshire, next to Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and,, Berkshire!.

[Lookin2]

Youngtug

Further to my email of yesterday.  I came across where I had read that Arden was a very ancient name.  Guess where I read it "stanmapstone re Royal Ancestors Thursday, July 29, 2010".  ….it is said that only two families, can, with certainty, trace their lineage back in the Anglo-Saxon Domesday forebear.  One of these is the Arden family of Shakespeare fame….".  Lookin2

[jbml]

As I recall, "Robin Hood" was properly styled Robert, Earl of Huntingdon. Or at least, by the 16th century it would appear that he had been "elevated" to this status ... but earlier sources for the title are somewhat thin on the ground (non-existent, indeed ...) and there is no remotely contemporary evidence for this title; whilst all known holders of the title for whom there IS contemporary evidence were NOT him!

The current Earl of Huntingdon is not a descendant - as the line has become extinct and the title re-created several times:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Huntingdon

[smudwhisk]

Youngtug

Further to my email of yesterday.  I came across where I had read that Arden was a very ancient name.  Guess where I read it "stanmapstone re Royal Ancestors Thursday, July 29, 2010".  ….it is said that only two families, can, with certainty, trace their lineage back in the Anglo-Saxon Domesday forebear.  One of these is the Arden family of Shakespeare fame….".  Lookin2

There are a lot of Arden families in both Warwickshire and elsewhere.  I doubt they are all related, more likely took the surname from the area, namely Forest of Arden.

[smudwhisk]

Not quite back to 1066,,,yet.

About 600 years short isn't it?   Just got to hope they're not in one of the Wiltshire parishes with missing registers when they appear on Ancestry.

When
Then of course, they are in that North East corner of Wiltshire, next to Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and,, Berkshire!.

Not come across anything in Oxfordshire and so far north Berkshire.  That said I think there are links to one Highworth family line in south Gloucestershire but I don't think the registers were on Ancestry for the parish when I last looked, it may come under Bristol RO.

As to when, who knows with Ancestry.   The RO said it would take a while when they posted on their website blog this time last year.

[jbml]

There are a lot of Arden families in both Warwickshire and elsewhere.  I doubt they are all related, more likely took the surname from the area, namely Forest of Arden.

The whole district is (or at least once was) called Arden. Forest of Arden is just one of many contemporary examples of places in Arden being named by reference to Arden.

So I suspect they took the name from Arden, rather than specifically from the forest thereof ..

[LizzieW]

I see an Arden in your list of names.  I am pretty sure when seeing another email ages ago that only about five names have written proof   of time and inheritance as they were landowners.  I am petty sure Arden was one of those names.

In the 1960s we lived in Arden Street, New Mills, in the Peak District.  It was a typical Peak District street with stone terraced houses.

[smudwhisk]

The whole district is (or at least once was) called Arden. Forest of Arden is just one of many contemporary examples of places in Arden being named by reference to Arden.

So I suspect they took the name from Arden, rather than specifically from the forest thereof ..

I agree, perhaps not the best written reply of mine.   However, the aim was to refute the suggestion by Lookin2 that all Arden families went back to the same "ancient family".  YT and I are researching the same Arden family in Wiltshire and there are quite a lot in that wider area with so far no obvious links, as happens with many families with the same surname.  There may be links but probably pre-parish registers and not confirmable unless they were sufficiently well off to leave a paper trail.