Origin in The East Midlands
The surname Astle first originated in Mercia, England. In the East Midlands, the name was derived from the Danish name Asketil which in turn derives from the Old Norse words áss meaning a god, and ketil meaning cauldron or kettle. References to the Viking 'Asketil' have been found in 12th century surveys by the Monks of Burton Abbey. They record how in 874, King Asketil and three other kings sacked Repton, then the capital of Mercia, after sailing up the River Trent. (This was during the campaign of King Ceolwulf II and the Great Heathen Army to overthrow King Burgred.) The four kings were allocated lands in a partitioned Mercia corresponding to the modern shires of Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby and Leicester. To this day, the largest grouping of Astle families is still concentrated in a relatively small area of South Derbyshire and East Staffordshire, close to the River Trent.
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Famous quotes containing the words origin, east and/or midlands:
“The origin of storms is not in clouds,
our lightning strikes when the earth rises,
spillways free authentic power:
dead John Brown’s body walking from a tunnel
to break the armored and concluded mind.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
“The East knew and to the present day knows only that One is Free; the Greek and the Roman world, that some are free; the German World knows that All are free. The first political form therefore which we observe in History, is Despotism, the second Democracy and Aristocracy, the third, Monarchy.”
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—D.H. (David Herbert)