Swinhope Burn Families

Nattrass Surname

NATTRASS is a very unique surname today. Originating from northern England, it is a believed that it is a locational name from the hamlet of NATTRASS in the parish of Alston in Cumberland. The surname is a combination of the Old English words of naet “moist” and hris “brushwood”, and possibly referred to people who lived near an area of low lying shrub land. The name has had many variations from it's earliest Old English origins including; NATERYS, NATRAS, NATTRAS, NATTERASS, and NATTRIS, and eventually evolved into either NATTRASS or NATTRESS during the 19th century.

The earliest known record of the surname is of Robert de Naterys who is mentioned in a Cumberland Assize Roll of 1279. The surname can later be found in Yorkshire in a 1474 membership of Cristina Natterys in the Guild of Corpus Christi, and later in 1560 with the Patent Roll of Edmund NATRES in Co Durham. In the 1700's, records of the Anglican church show the largest known cluster of the NATTRASS surname existing in the Weardale area of Stanhope parish in Co Durham.  

Nattrass in Allendale

Bordering the area of Weardale is the Allendale Valley of Northumberland. One of the earliest church records of the NATTRASS surname in the area is the 1677 christening of Henry NATRAS, son of Henry, at St. Cuthbert’s Church in Allendale town. He is believed to be the patriarch of the Allendale NATTRASS line. Henry is later recorded in 1700 as residing in the hamlet of Rookup (Rookhope), in the Weardale area of Co Durham where he married Elizabeth HENDERSON in Stanhope parish.