Gostwick Name Study Page

This was going to be the crown jewel of my work, but I dont like the idea that it's done, or that there arent so many more things to learn. So let me share what I believe are the true origins of several family branches that called themselves Gostwyck.

Chapter 0: Migrating to England from Goes, Zeeland

I believe the first families that called themselves 'of Goswyk' were a family of merchants, from the Island City-state of Zeeland, a walled town called Goes.

Placenames were a dominant way to identify a branch of family, particularly when moving off to settle somewhere new. Even until the 16th century, certain folks were 'of Potton' or 'of London', to differentiate themselves from many duplicative names.

The town of Goswick sits just at the place where the tidal bridge leads to Lindesfarne, Holy Island. We do indeed find some Gostwyks living there, on Holy Isle itself.

The ships laden with wine, crossing the Black Sea, eventually made the sands in the shadows of Lindesfarne their home. Goswick. Sands of Goes. When things began to expand, and the family got larger, with more properties, they moved toward the big town, Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

Perhaps until now they had been 'Van der Goes'. Now they were 'de Goeswyk' A name that would be spelled every possible way imagined.

The first few generations were fairly quiet until the family heavily allied themselves with King Edward I, assuming the role of Burgess of Berwick with perhaps three Goswyk notables, certainly two.

With taxation, and wine importation to Berwick, a primary engagement with the crown, Walter & Roger de Goswyk, as Burgesses find themselves in the thick of the Siege of Berwick in 1333.

Families that settled the sands of Lindesfarne, including founding the town of Goswick, Northumberland.

• Adam de Goswyk (1167-1217) [two citations]

1. ↑ "Durham Cathedral Archive: Miscellaneous Charters", GBPRO, Ref: 3.1.Spec..49 (early 13th cent), Durham University Archives; Ref: GB-0033-DCD-Spec

• Morgan de Goswyk (bef1169-abt1220) [one citation]
  • Henry de Goswyk (1186-1210) [one citation]
  • Patrick de Goswyk the Elder [ten citations]
    • Constantine de Goswyk (1210-1250) no references directly
      • Patrick de Goswyk (1227-1253) [one citation]
      • John de Goswyk (1230-1259) [two citations]
      • Eustace de Goswyk (1235-1275) [one citation]
    • Patrick de Goswyk the Younger (1221-1259) [six citations]

We dont have the precise linkage to these great adventurers from across the Black Sea. These placements are very carefully considered, to help us see which generations would have lived side by side during these almost Domesday era times in England.

• OUR Unknown de Goswyk (bef 1188-aft1225)
  • John de Gosewyk (1204-1260)
    • William de Gosewyk (1220-1285)
    • Walter de Gosewyk (1222-1260)
  • Henry de Gaskryk (1210-1250)
    • Robert de Gaskryk (1228-1280)
    • John de Gascryk (1235-1275)