Recorded as Radmore, Redmore, Redmire and Radmer, this is an English locational surname. It originates from the village of Radmore in the county of Staffordshire or from Redmire, a village in North Yorkshire. The Staffordshire village is first recorded in the year 1157 in the pipe rolls of the county, as 'Red-a-mora', becoming Radmore in 1225. The name would seem to mean 'The red moor' and was possibly a reference to the soil in the area, which can contain iron. The Yorkshire village is even earlier being recorded as 'Ridemare' in the famous Domesday Book of 1086. The name here means 'The reed lake' and the village contain Castle Bolton, one of the several places which were prisons to Mary, Queen of Scots. Locational surnames were amongst the earliest to be created, either because they were those of the local lord of the manor and his descendants, or because they were 'from' names. These were name given to people who left their original homes and moved somewhere else. The easiest way to identify such a stranger was to call him, or sometimes her, after the place from whence they came. Spelling over the centuries being at best indifferent and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. Early examples of the surname recording include Richard Readmiore of Howden in Yorkshire, on May 26th 1579, Barbara Redmare who married William Johnson at Patrington also in Yorkshire, on August 9th 1607, Richard Radmore whose daugher Dorithie was christened at the church of St Giles Cripplegate in the city of London on October 27th 1623, and in Staffordshireh Thomas Radmore at St. Matthew's Walsall, on June 21st 1682.

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