This interesting and unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from some minor, unrecorded, or now "lost" place, believed to have been situated in Lincolnshire, due to the prevalence of Church recordings of the surname in that county. An estimated seven to ten thousand villages and hamlets are known to have disappeared in Britain since circa 1100, due to such natural disasters as the Black Death of 1348, in which an eighth of the population perished, or to the widespread practice of "clearing" large areas of land to make sheep pastures during the height of the wool-trade in the 15th Century. The placename is believed to be derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Frithil", of uncertain etymology, with "ing", meaning people of, and "tun", a settlement; hence, "the settlement of Frithil's people". Recordings from Lincolnshire Church Registers include: the christening of Thomas Fredlinton on October 29th 1577, at Ludborough; the christening of Anne Fridlington on April 18th 1588, also at Ludborough; and the marriage of Rabt Fridlington and Als Buret on May 13th 1589, at Ludford Magna. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Margarete Frydyllyngton, which was dated February 6th 1562, christened at St. Gabriel's, Binbrook, Lincolnshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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