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"The Church holds Woodyates itself. And Hugh's wife holds from the Abbott. Before
1066 it paid tax for four hides. The value was four pounds, now forty shillings".
Domesday Book ...1086.
The English
surname Woodyatt is of toponymic origin deriving from the name of the place where the inital bearer once lived and held land,
thus affording him a suitable means of identity in his local community. In this instance we have the place called Woodyates
in the county of Dorsetshire which appears to have been the original home for this name, derived from the Old English term
"mudu , geat" ( residence by the gate in the woods ). THe place name appears in the Doomsday Book for Dorset when detailing
the land and holdings of St. Mary's Glastonbury. in the wake of the Norman Conquest of 1066.
The term "hide" in the caption
was a medieval land measurement of about one hundred an twenty acres in modern times. The Woodyate's holding were about four
hundred and eighty acres in todays terms.
Among the earliest written
references in the name or a varient form we read of one called William de Wudegat in the Curia Regis Rolls for Dorsetshire
in the year 1199, and the name of Walter de Wubiate was mentioned in the same Rolls in the year 1208.
In the "Doomsday
of St. Paul's in the year 1222" we note the name of Aluric de la Wdegate in the county of Essex.
And Martin atte Wobegate
was recorded in the Subsidy Rolls for Sussex in 1296, along with John atte Wodegate in Warwickshire in 1332.
"FROM
A TINY ACORN A MIGHTY TREE GROWS""
"BLAZON
OF ARMS"
Ajant on on a chevon asure. between three squirrels sejant, each holding
a nut all proper, or as many acorns.
"FAMILY CREST"
A squirrel sejant holding a nut all proper.
"FAMILY
MOTTO"
"Esse quam videri" roughtly transates"
"To be" rather then "To seem to be"
According to my research, squirrels are common
on many English coats of arms, sitting upright and either holding or cracking a nut. “The nut must be cracked to get
at the kernel of "Truth, Wisdom or Honor" within.” The
squirrels symbolizes gathering, preparation, thrift, and a lover of the woods or "God, Community
and Family".
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