Hesketh and Becconsall

It has often been suggested that the name Hesketh comes from Hes + Skeidt - Viking and means Horse + Track. Which is basically "Race track". Apparently the Viking were quite passionate about pitting their horse against one another and the squire or lord of the manor (ancestor of the Heskeths) built a track for horse racing on the banks of the Ribble (probably Hesketh Marsh) and that's where the name possibly comes from. One of the old spellings of the name is "Heskaithe" or "Heskaite", which is very similar to the original.

Other research suggests that the name Hesketh derives its origin not from Norse but from the earlier indigenous Brythonic Celtic language spoken by the Cumbri tribe in fourth century Lancashire after the Romans had left. The etymology of Hesketh would thus be derived from Brythonic Celtic words 'hais' and 'caidd' mean thorny (or prickly) wood.

Becconsall is given as being derived from Beacons Hill. However, an alternative may be Beccan + haugr. This means "burial mound of Beccan". It would have been "Beccan his haugr" then "Beccan's haugr" then Becconsawe, which is the old spelling (1300s). Beccan is an old Irish name and it may be that the Vikings who settled in that area did not come straight from Scandanavia but came in under an agreement of A.D. 902 with King Aethelraed (Ethelred), which allowed peaceful settlement there. If so, then they came from a Viking settlement quite near Dublin.

Tarleton

A suggestion for the origins of Tarleton is that it was derived from Jarle's Town, an early Viking settlement on the banks of the river Douglas.

Local Genealogy

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