Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Moscrop
Variants: Moscroft, Moscropp, Mosscroft, Mosscrop, Mosscropp
Category: 1 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is in its early stages.
Contact: Mrs Suzanne Moscrop
My name is Suzanne Moscrop and my aim with this study is to record and link as many Moscrops (or variants) worldwide as possible.
I started researching family history over 30 years ago and soon became fascinated by my married name of MOSCROP as there are not many of us around.
As I followed our branch of the family back through the generations I became totally fascinated by them and their movements across the country, so much so that I registered the name and its variants as a one name study.
Our Moscrop family are thought to have descended from 2 brothers, Archibald and Donald who moved to Bolton, Lancashire following the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513 and findings tell us that they may have originated from Northumberland or Scotland before that. To date my research has mainly concentrated on the Moscrops who possibly descend from these brothers so I would welcome any further contributions of families, instances etc. of Moscrop and variants in Lancashire, Cumbria, Scotland and in any other part of the World.
Variations are many but principally they are MOSCROP, MOSCROFT, MOSCROPP, MOSSCROFT, MOSSCROP, MOSSCROPP.
I have read that Moscrop may have originated from the old English pre 7th century word ‘mos’ meaning bog or swamp and the old English word “crop” meaning cluster or group such as a group of water plants perhaps. I have also read that it originated from ‘croft on boggy ground’ which sounds more likely.
The origin that I most like is that it comes from a Scottish flower called moscrop which is a kind of bog cotton that is also found in Iceland. There is a family legend that a foundling child was abandoned in a doorway in a cradle lined with moscrops – hence the child was given this name.
Earliest recordings of the surname:
The earliest Moscrop recorded in Scotland is 1326 – a John Moscrop is a witness recorded in “the Register of Paisley Monastery”.
Excerpt from the Victorian history of the county of Lancaster:
Pilsworth. ‘’Robert de Hulton about 1260 gave his land in Pilsworth to William de Radcliffe, son of Peter de Pilsworth for a yearly rent of two pairs of white gloves; and William granted the same to Ellis Moscrop to hold by the same service, due at St Leonards feast.