Kindly transcribed by David & Barbara of Hampshire, from an article in the "Derbyshire Countryside" magazine published some years ago.

ARE YOU CALLED BRAILSFORD?

By Maxwell Craven

In the Derbyshire section of the Domesday Book, in the fortieth entry under section six, there is an entry for the village of Brailsford which ends with the words  "... Elfin holds it (i.e. Brailsford)".   The entries for Bupton, nearby, and Osmaston, a few miles down the road, both end similarly...

So who was Elfin?  The name is probably the Saxon Aelfwine (although a Celtic derivation has been argued), and Elfin's son, Nicholas, was surnamed 'de BRAILSFORD' and was the ancestor of most persons bearing this name, which, as a place name is unique to this county.

Nicholas de BRAILSFORD also held Wingerworth, and the senior male line became extinct in the mid-fourteenth century when the manor of Brailsford passed through the heiress to the BASSETs and then the SHIRLEYs. However, the family had ever been rich in younger sons, very many of whom left descendants. Indeed so prolific were they that Hugh de BRAILSFORD, Rector of Dronsfield in about 1199 managed to fly in the face of celibacy and leave a son, Thomas, whom succeeded his father in the living.

In those days it was not uncommon for a family to adopt a surname from the name of the place wherein they held land, and by this process called 'De BIRCHOVER' and  'De OSMASTON', the latter to be distinguished from a more modern Derbyshire family who adopted the name in lieu of WRIGHT, albeit for similar reasons.

 
The survival of the name BRAILSFORD (or BRELSFORD, as it was occasionally spelt) rested with a branch which re-emerged in the person of John BRAILSFORD of Bupton in Brailsford who moved to family land at Senior-in-Ault Hucknall and North Wingfield in about 1555.  Where exactly his ancestors belonged on the family pedigree is not fully certain. He was probably a descendant of Sir Engenulf de BRAILSFORD of Bradley, fourth son of Henry of BRAILSFORD (living in 1243).   Engenulf's descendants were for a few generations of Blore, in Staffordshire [as sub tenants of the BASSETs of that place, themselves heirs of the senior line of BRAILSFORDs). Others were of Burnaston, Bupton and Etwall, and one was Bailiff of Derby for 1359.   Robert, of Etwall, living two generations later was also of Wingerworth, and he was probably the ancestor of John of Senior.

John founded the BRAILSFORDs of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, Staveley and of London, the latter being silk weavers, and the fishmongers there in the 16^th century. John had two brothers, Roger of whom we know nothing, and Thomas, who founded the later BRAILSFORDs of Senior, who had their arms confirmed at the time of the Visitation of 1611.

By the mid-seventeenth century, this branch had spawned offshoots settled at Stretton-in-Shirland, The Hill-in-North Wingfield, South Normanton, Rowthorne, Bolsover, Egstow Hall, Chesterfield, Little Normanton, Little Brailsford in North Wingfield and Duffield - prolific if you like!  The latter branch, Duffield, migrated to France in 1689, and we do not know what became of them. Thomas BRAILSFORD of Senior sold that estate at about the same time (all this perhaps as a result of zeal for the deposed James II) and moved to Mansfield where, the Lysons say, 'their descendants were opulent yeoman'.

Thereafter, our pedigrees falter, although individual research would undoubtedly bridge the gap for many. Certainly the descendants of the only surviving family known certainly to descend from a Saxon holding land at the time of the Domesday are numerous in this country and much further a field, too.

[Coat of Arms picture #1]

BRAILSFORD of Brailsford: or, a cinquefoil sable. From a seal of Sir Henry de BRAILSFORD of 1358 of Senior 1611 with a martlett for difference.

[Coat of Arms picture #2]

Argent on bent gules three cinquefoils: or, As on a seal of Ralph BRAILSFORD of Brailsford, 1330.  Used by Thomas BRAILSFORD of Senior as in Church glass at Crich.

[Coat of Arms picture #3]

BRAILSFORD of South Normanton (granted 1826): Or a cinquefoil sable on a chief indented ermine two pommes on each a cross argent.   The chief of Heathcote reflects the grantee's mother's heirship of Heathcote of Stancliffe.

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