A record of documented arms, meaning and origin, researched for the Boreham family of Britain.
J. B. Rietstap, Armorial Général, Gouda: G. B. van Goor Zonen, 1884–87
Blazon (the actual original written record)“D'azur à trois plombs de maçon d'or. C.: un tigre assis d'arg., criné d'or.”
The Boreham arms were recorded in Sussex, c. 1621.
Sussex had ironworks in its woods and good farmland on its downs. Both made money, and families who made it bought manors, which is what put their names in the heraldic records.
This is where the arms were entered in the register. Families often moved to other parts of the country, so the same name can turn up in more than one region.
The body that granted and recorded arms in Britain in this period.
Reigning in Britain when the Boreham arms are first recorded.
English heraldry allowed arms to be shared by all legitimate descendants of the original owner. These symbols were treated as personal property that moved through the generations to all children. While the eldest son kept the original design, other family members could use the same shield without needing to change it or register their own unique versions.
The surname Boreham is a locational name that originated in England, specifically derived from a place name meaning a homestead or village near a brook. By the early seventeenth century, members of the Boreham family were well-established in the county of Sussex, with records confirming their presence in the region by 1621. During this era, families often took their surnames from the specific hamlets or manors where they lived and worked as farmers or tradespeople. As the family moved across the English countryside, they maintained their connection to these ancestral lands through their name. This naming tradition helped local officials and neighbors identify individuals by their geographic origins long before modern census records were created.
A fortified enclosure or settlement near a river meadow.
