Scaysbrook Clan

Within my section of the family, there have been a few wild guesses as to the origin of the name Scaysbrook, my father seemed to think that we were from Liverpool, probably because of the town Scarisbrick, near Ormskirk and Southport. I had the feeling that it was a Saxon come Viking Norse name,`from articles that I had read, and recently I met on the net with Ian Scaysbrook from London, who have just linked into the tree, who think they were Flemish weavers.

Recent links we have made around the Oxfordshire area now show that the name was spelt in a variety of ways depending upon the scribe at the time trying to translate what he heard. This has let to several clans being established as the varios spellings became firm surnames. My site is dedicated to the Scaysbrook line.

One interesting variant is Scarybrig which belonged to a Thomas Scarybrig, a Dr of Dvinity at the University of OXford C 1508. or

Finally it's interesting to note that among the first names to reach the new world was a William Scarsbrick on the ship Paul, bound for St Christopher out of London in 1635

Its often the case that as we moved around the country the birth , death and other records could have a variety of spelling, again depending upon the scribe and our accent.

I have seen the following spellings, which seem to form the basic clan stucture :-

Scaysbrook, Scarisbrook, Scarsbrick,Scarisbrick,Scaribrick,Scarisbreck,Scarisbrecke, Scasbrook, Scaresbrec,Scarasbrick, Skashbrook,Skosbrook,Scarybrig

As yet we have no definite proof, but the article below taken from a Heraldry site, Heraldry on the Internetmay be the best yet as to our origins.

“Scarisbrick is an English place name derived from the place near Liverpool that bears the name, which came to be called that through a combination of the Old Norse given name Skar added to the Old Norse vocabulary word brekka = slope, hill. The settlement at that location was literally "Skar's hill" or "Scar's brekka." Any man who formerly lived at that settlement, but moved to a new village could be described by his new neighbours by the reference to his former place of residence (to differentiate him from others already in the village with the same given name). Variations are Sizebrick, Siosbrick . Most who bear the name today are descended from Gilbert de Scaresbrec, who was lord of the manor of Scarisbrick in the 1200's.”

Could be that we are part of this but we'll see !

The earliest name we have found that I can link in to the great Scaysbrook Clan tree, dates to around 1560, aThomas Scasbrook, but we know from odd mentions in various records that a variety of spelling can be seen all over England from as early as 1300, but I can not link them, all we can go on at present is the similar name.

If my line does decend from Gilbert de Scaresbrec, what made them move south. From the early 1500's we have been located around Oxfordhire, migrating north towards Birmingham as time went on, with one ore two trying London out. Elizabeth the 1st was on the throne, and as far as I can see we had a period of settlement, the biggest reason for people to move around, ie war was some way of in the shape of the civil war had yet to get going, Trade might have been the answer !.

So what constitutes the clan Scaysbrook, so far I have linked in two seperate lines:-

Scaysbrook

Scarsbrook

I have recently made contact with Virginia Newton who runs the one name study forScasbrook. Virginia's site has a lot of history and names going back some way, and not only in Europe, but in Canada and the USA, but as yet no link to the Scaysbrook line.

But what about the town in Lancashire, its an obvious choice for investigation, and our name is still common, but as yet I have no links. The town is worth a visit just to see Scarisbrick hall