This unsual name is of Anglo-Saxon orign and can be either a locational or a topographical surname. If locational, it derives from the place in Derbyshire called Olerenshaw in the Parish of Taxal. The meaning and derivation of the placename is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "aelren", meaning "aldern" of alders a derivative of "alor", alder tree, with "sceaga", meaning a wood or copse. As a topographical surname, the meaning is "the dweller by the alder-wood". There are a number of variants in the modern idiom, Ollerenshaw, Olerenshaw, Olrenshaw, Ollarenshaw, Ollerearnshaw, Oldershaw and Houldershaw. Frances Olorenshaw was christened on the 3rd June 1683 at St. Andrew's in Holborn, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John del Olrynshagh, which was dated 1327, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Derbyshire", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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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