A transposed locational name which originally derived from the Old English "Bar-torp" and means "the dweller at the fenced farm", with "Barre" meaning Fence and "thorpe" - a farmstead. Some name holders may derive from the village of Barthorpe in the former East Riding of Yorkshire. The name development has included - William de Barkentorp (1219, Yorkshire), Bartholomew Barthroppe (1569, Suffolk), Hester Barntrap (1687, Norfolk) and Christopher Barthrup (1706, Yorkshire) and many others. Among the recordings in Norfolk is the marriage of William Banthorpe and Alice Maud Sadd, on December 12th 1815 at St. Michael's at Coslany, Norwich, Norfolk, and the christening of James Skimmer Banthorpe on December 1778 at Felixstowe, Suffolk. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Baretorp, which was dated 1200, The Pipe Rolls of Lincoln, during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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