Coat of Arms & Family Crest Details
Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, London: Harrison & Sons, 1884
Blazon (the actual original written record)“Gu. three escallops and a bordure engr. ar”
A record of documented arms, meaning and origin, researched for the Earll family of England.
Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, London: Harrison & Sons, 1884
Blazon (the actual original written record)“Gu. three escallops and a bordure engr. ar”
The Earll arms were recorded in Somerset, c. 1620.
Somerset was rich farming country with a thick scattering of manor houses. Its gentry were numerous and long-settled, and a settled landed family almost always ended up with arms.
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.
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 Earll family name finds its roots in the English countryside, with historical records placing members of the family in the county of Somerset by the year 1620. The name itself is a variation of the Old English word for a nobleman, which suggests that early ancestors may have held positions of local authority or served in the households of regional leaders. During the early seventeenth century, families in Somerset were often tied to the land through farming or trade, and the Earll name appears in local parish registers that document the daily lives of these residents. As the century progressed, some individuals bearing this name chose to leave their homes in the West Country to seek new opportunities in the American colonies. This migration was part of a larger movement of English settlers who carried their local customs and family names across the Atlantic, effectively establishing the Earll lineage in a new world while maintaining the traditions of their Somerset origins.
Old English term for a nobleman, warrior, or man of rank.
