Origins

This ancient name can be traced back to the

villages of Great and Little Massingham in North

Norfolk, near the town of King's Lynn. It is well

recorded in the surrounding villages of Field

Dalling, Langham, and in the county town of

Norwich itself, suggesting that the nameholders,

or at least many of them, do derive from the

original 13th century land owning family.

The early recordings include Adam de

Messingham in Lincoln in the Hundred Rolls of

that county for the year 1273, and John de Messingham in the London Rolls

for the same year. Thomas de Messyngham is recorded in the Poll Tax Rolls

for the city of York in 1379, whilst amongst the early church recordings is

that of William Massingham who married Ursula Wade at Fincham, Norfolk,

on June 13th 1595.

History

The name is tribal and probably Anglo-Saxon, and translates as the

'hamm' (place or village) of the Maessa (Mass) tribe (ing). These people are

also recorded in Lincoln, as 'Massingberd', the castle (berg) of the Maessa

tribe.SpellingThe first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be

that of Walter de Massingham, which was dated 1272, in the Hundred

Rolls of the county of Cambridge, during the reign of King Edward 1, known

as 'The Hammer of the Scots', 1272-1307. Surnames became necessary

when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was

known as the Poll tax.