Be a part of the Guild-registered Threlkeld One-Name Study
Is the ancient English surname Threlkeld--or any of its variant spellings--in your genealogy? Then please consider joining the Threlkeld One-Name Study, here on WikiTree at the Freespace Page "Threlkeld Name Study."
No commitment whatsoever is required. Of course, you can always do more whenever you want. 
To get started, all we ask is that you add the Study's WikiTree Category Code to the profiles of people you manage who were born with the surname or any of its variant spellings:
[[Category:Threlkeld Name Study]]
Just copy and paste that immediately above the "== Biography ==" line of the relevant profiles that you manage. Simple and easy. Visit the Study's WikiTree Page for more information.
Background
There are no monarchs or royalty associated with the surname, but there are knights and Members of Parliament. The first recorded use of Threlkeld as a family name dates to 1292 and Henry de Threlkeld, described as being Sheriff of Westmorland; however, it is believed more probable that he was Under-Sheriff at the time.
The first written use of the name--in a document held at the British Museum--is reference to a priest called Randulf at the chapelry of Threlkeld in 1220. Referring to it as a church or chapelry at that time would have been generous: the area--at the southern base of the mountain Blencathra and nearly abutted to the Scottish border--was never very populous and the original structure was no doubt quite modest. Threlkeld seems to have been be the oldest chapelry in the Diocese of Carlisle. In its early years it was part of the parish of Greystoke, which served ten hamlets, only four of which had chapels: Threlkeld, Matterdale, Mungrisdale, and Watermillock.
The name itself, however, likely dates to the time of the Danelaw in England, 886 through 1066. Threlkeld is a dithematic form coming directly from two Old Norse words: þrǽll (thraell) and kelda. Several rivulets and streams (becks) originate on Blencathra which, in addition to normal rain run-off, sees snow accumulation in the winter and the resultant spring melt. Kilnhow Beck is the largest of these and runs almost through the center of the village of Threlkeld, directly past St. Mary's, the Threlkeld Church, and feeds into the River Glenderamackin less than a half-mile farther, just past the A66.
The Old Norse word kelda is cognate with Middle High German qual (German Quelle) and Danish kilde. It means a spring, wellspring, or fountain. The village of Threlkeld--no doubt centuries before its first use as a surname--was so named for Kilnhow Beck, the stream that provided its primary water source a millennium ago.
Recent Study News
Beginning last December we started offering a Random File of the Week on the Threlkeld Study's WikiTree Page. Each week, generally on the weekend, one file (public domain or republication permitted) is selected and posted. The link to the file will only be valid during the time it's shown on the Study's page, so don't bookmark it for later reference; it won't be a valid link. But you are able to download any file you want while it's available.
An exception is that uploaded as a permanent resource for WikiTree Threlkeld researchers is noted northwest England historian William Jackson's paper, "The Threlkelds of Threlkeld, Yanwath, and Crosby Ravensworth." Appearing in Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society (1888) Series 1, Volume IX (pp. 298-317), this was one of the first published works that specifically researched the Threlkeld surname and its earliest documented appearances.
Also available, this week only, are two book-length compilations by Jackson: volumes 1 and 2 of Papers and Pedigrees Mainly Relating to Cumberland and Westmorland (London: Bemrose & Sons, Limited, 1892), each around 425 pages.
Although the Threlkeld surname appears in a variety of countries, it is found most in the US, the UK, and in Australia and New Zealand. Certainly not the most common name--and one that has seen myriad phonetic spellings over the centuries--if you are a Threlkeld, it's highly likely that your line traces back to ancient origins in the borderlands of England's Lake District.
