This most interesting surname, with variant spellings Toothill, Tootal, Tootill, Tootle and Tothill is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and has two possible, but related interpretations. Firstly, it may be a topographical name for one who lived by a hill which was used as a look-out station against an enemy's approach, from the Olde English words "tot", look-out and "hyll", hill. Alternatively, it may be of locational origin from Toot Hill (Essex), Tothill (Lincolnshire and Middlesex), or Tuttle Hill (Warwickshire), which are composed of the same elements as above. The following quote appears in Earwaker's "East Cheshire": "Near the Forest Chapel is a small quadrangular Roman camp, situate on a hill called Toot-hill". The surname itself first appears in the late 12th Century (see below). Custance Totel and Roger Tothull are both mentioned in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire in 1273. The Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire record a Johannes de Totehill in 1379. Barbara, daughter of Thomas Tottle, was christened on February 24th 1599 in the Church of St. Mary Whitechapel, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gilbert de Totehille, which was dated 1185, in the "Records of Templars in England in the 12th Century" (Warwickshire), during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. 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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