Recorded in the spellings of Mobley, Moberley, Mobberley, Moberly, this is a dialectal locational surname from either the town of Mobberley in Cheshire, or from some now 'lost' medieval site called 'Moberleah' or similar. The name translates as 'the clearing (leah) with the assembly mound (gemot-beorg)' from the pre 7th century Olde English and possibly Norse-Viking of the same period. The place is foirst recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as 'Motburlege' and later in the year 1260 as 'Modberleg'. Local accents being extreemely 'thick' and spelling not being a strong point in any case, most early recordings of both place names and subsequent surnames often shown wide differences, even in the same rolls prepared by the same monk or cleric. In this case we have some very early recordings of the surname, and given the meaning of the name this is not surprising, as the village was a known administrative centre, and the lord of the manor, a person of considerable importance. This was the man shown below, whilst Ralph de Modberleg, recorded in the Assize Rolls of Cheshire in the year 1260, was a judge. Margerry Mobberleye was recorded in Prestbury, Cheshire, in 1568, whilst Richard Mobley married Jane Adams at St Georges chapel, Hanover Square, London, in 1756. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Patrick de Moberleia, which was dated 1190, the Early Charter rolls of the county of East Cheshire, during the reign of King Richard 1st, known as 'The lionheart', 1189 - 1199. 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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