Recorded as Thelwall, Thelwell, Thelwill, and possibly others, this is an English surname. It is locational from a place called Thelwall, near the town of Warrington, in the county of Cheshire. Thelwall was first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, sometimes called the first newspaper, in the year 963 a.d. as 'Pelwael.' This translates as the 'The bridge of logs over a deep pool'. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homesteads to live somewhere else, and were best identified by being called after that place. Spelling being erratic and local accents very thick, often lead to the creation of 'sounds like' spellings. It is unclear when the surname was first recorded, but Edward Thelwall was buried at St Michaels Cornhill, in the city of London in 1617, whilst in 1622, John Thelwell of the village of Bold in Lancashire, had his will recorded at the Northern Wills Register, in Richmond, Yorkshire. Today in the late 20th century, the surname is internationally recognized through the work of the artist known as Thelwall, famous for his ponies.

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