cowgill surname

Extract from "Yorkshire surnames Series Part Two. Huddersfield & District" by George Redmonds. Published February 1993. ISBN 0 9508526 6 X. Printed by PRINTSHOP 36 Bradford Rd, Brighouse at £2.70

Cowgill, Coghill, Cowdill, Cowdell, Coughill

The surname Cowgill is numerous now in the western part of Yorkshire. For example in the contemporary Bradford telephone directory there are 50 families with the name. This is however, an expansion of comparatively recent date. In the 17th century, Cowgill was very uncommon and indeed almost confined to a few villages in the Yorkshire Dales. Its history there suggests very strongly, that this is a single origin name: in other words it is probable that all Yorkshire Cowgills share a common ancestor: indeed, that all English, belongs to this one family. The references I have collected for the surname prior to 1682 support this view and also point to the names meaning and places of origin. I will deal first of all with the earliest sequence of spelling in one village, for this is significant:

1379 John de Colgyll (Nesfield Poll Tax)

1458 Thomas Colgill, mentioned in Ilkley Court Rolls

1521 John Colgill of Ilkley (wills in the diocesan registry)

1579 William Cowgill of Ilkley

1600 John Cowgill of Ilkley

These demonstrate that 'Cowgill' is the original form of the name and so the history can be taken back into the 14th century. In 1379 there was a tax on Yorkshire tennants which lists approximately 85% of the population - a very full list indeed for such a date, and at that time the only Cowgills in the whole of Yorkshire were living close to one another in the hills which lie between Wharfedale and Ribblesdale:

1379 Thomas Cjalgill of Malham All these paid

1379 Robert de Colgyll of Threshfield the standard

1379 John de Colgyll of Arncliff rate of 4 pence

1379 Alice de Colgyll of Arncliffe

The names indicate a geographic origin for the surname (i.e. the use of 'de' and this is almost certainly the locality now known as Cowgill, formerly spelled Colgill, lying in the township of Bordley.

This has been an area of Scandinavian settlement in the 10th century and these early spellings seem likely to represent the old NORSE personal name of KOLLI plus the old Norse word for GIL. i.e. Kollisgill. The L of Colgill was vocalised in both the placenames and the surname in the tudor period, and this is a feature of the local speech. The words 'old' and 'cold', for example are pronounced 'owd' and 'cowd'. The name has, therefore, nothing to do with cows, except by association, and the forms quoted show that the surname could not have developed from other places now called Cowgill which are, in fact, derived from the word 'cow'. For the period c1520 to 1690, I have put together a list of references to indicate the main parishes in which Cowgill occurred.

1522 John Colgill (Gargrave) Brian Cogill (East Morton) Tennants Book

1543 Robert Cowgill (Thornton in Craven) Subsidy Roll

1599 Bryan Cowgill of Thornton in Craven. Will

1600 John Cowgill of Ilkley had twin daughters bapt 3 Dec but unfortuntely both died

1602 John Cowgill of Ilkley had a son William bapt 23 June

1605\6 John Cowgill of Ilkley had a son Henry bapt 31 March

1608 John Cowgill of Ilkley had a son bapt 20 Aug

1617 Christopher Cowgill of Thornton in Craven mar. Agnes Iveson 21 Dec at Kirkby Malham

1619 Ritchard Cowgill of Thornton in Craven. Will

1620 Thomas Cowgill married Mary Crier 20 August at Ilkley they lost a daughter in 1626

1626 Francisca dau of Thomas 13 April

1626 Thomas Cowgill of Ilkley buried 13 Mar

1627 Thomas Cowgill of Ilkley buried 14 Mar

1634 Henry Cowgill, yeoman married Margaret Cooke at Thornton in Craven 22 Aug by lic.

1636 Emorie Cowgill married Elizabeth Smithson at Gargrave. The had a dau Ann in 1638

1637 Bartholomew Cowgill of (Marton?). Will

1639 Joseph Cowgill, married Margaret Wharffe 6 Feb at Gargrave

1639 John Cowgill, agriculturer, of Skipton mar. Margaret Stockdale aged 25 at Gargrave

1639 William Cowgill, Clothier married Elisabeth Dale aged 29 at Carlton in Craven Lic

1643 Francis Cowgill of Baildon had a son Francis bapt 1 Oct at Bingley

The Civil War now in progress, and the Protecturate which followed it, are periods when Parish Registers are less accurately kept. This changed when the Monarchy was restored in 1660.

1662 The Hearth Tax, a method of raising money for the Crown, was imposed on hearths and stoves in dwelling houses. The list for Carlton in Craven contained no fewer than six Cowgills.

1663 Robert Dawson, yeoman, aged 36 mar. Isabella Cowgill a Widow aged 50 at Gargrave

1665 William Gawthrop, yeoman, aged 38 married Elisabeth Cowgill aged 29 at Carlton

1668 Richard Wright, yeoman, aged 55 married Ann Cowgill 35 of Leathley Nr Otley, Lic at Idle

1669 Christopher Cowgill of Bramhope Nr Otley bapt son John 20 Nov PR. He married Sarah

Cave at Otley the previous year and died 1670. PR

1670 Robert Woodworth, yeoman, 50 married Jane Cowgill, widow 30 of Carlton. Lic at Skipton

1670 William Paley, yeoman, 23 married Mary Cowgill 22 of Giggleswick. Lic

1678/9 John Shuttleworth married Ann Cowgill at Bingley 4 Mar PR

1684 Helena Cowgill buried at Ilkley PR

1685 Bartholomew and John Cowgill of Carlton were listed in Lord Thanets benefaction to the poor of Craven.