History
First appearing in the Domesday Book [3] which is England's earliest public record containing a unique survey of the value and ownership of lands and resources in late 11th century England. Pennington is mentioned in the Domesday Book as one of the townships forming the Manor of Hougun which was held by Tostig Godwinson, Earl of North Cumbria. In the book, the surname's first recorded occurrence was spelled Pennigetun and the first place named Pennigetun is Pennington, Cumbria near Lancaster and it is said to have been named after the aristocratic Pennington Family. The manor is exactly the same size as the parish which formerly belonged to the Cistercian Abbey of Furness, and includes 4,160 acres or six and one-half square miles. The parish was the smallest in Lancashire. The village was composed of 50 houses and 284 people in the mid-nineteenth century, and is about the same size today. The name likely was inspired from the Pennines chain of mountains that run through Northern England and Cumbria. When put together, the British word "pennig" (little hill) and the Saxon word "ton" (town) makes Pennigetun/Pennington. Nonetheless, the record was compiled in 1086-1087, a mere twenty years after the Norman Conquest, at the order of William the Conqueror. Surnames did not exist before the Norman Conquest (1066 AD).
Famously, there existed the Pennington House. The Pennington family traces its lineage back to Gamel de Penitone, a prominent figure before and during the Norman Conquest of 1066, according to "The English Baronetage" published in 1741. By 1250 the Pennington names were all in Norman form. In general, Old English (Saxon) and Cymric (Welsh or British) names were a minority in the population. It may well be that other inhabitants of the village of Pennington took the town name as a surname during the 1100’s and 1200’s, yet since it was a very tiny village, it is very likely all were closely related anyway. Gamel de Penitone can with very great confidence be called an ancestor of all the Penningtons today. Overall, this account suggests the family's importance in Cumberland even before the Norman Conquest. [4] Early records of the Pennington family tree can be found in a book for Sir Josslyn Pennington, 5th Baron Muncaster of Muncaster and ninth baronet. [5] Additionally, they were connected by marriage to the Percy family and bore the Percy arms with slight variation. [6] Nevertheless, historical evidence points to Muncaster as the ancestral home of the Pennington Family since at least 1208 when lands were granted to Alan de Penitone, though some records hint at an even earlier connection dating back to 1026. [7] Fifty years later a castle was built by Gamel de Mulcastre. Muncaster Castle was home to the Pennington family for 800 years. [8] The castle evolved from the Pele Tower, built to repel marauding Scots. The estate was originally 23,000 acres; today it is 1,800 acres. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
In 1917, with the death of the fifth and last Lord Muncaster without heirs, Sir Josslyn Pennington, 5th Baron Muncaster, the estate passed to Sir John Ramsden, a cousin on his mother's side. This ended the Pennington Baronetcy and created the Pennington-Ramsden Baronetcy. As a condition of inheritance, Sir John's second son assumed the Pennington name. The Ramsdens sold the Ramsden Estate (Huddersfield) in 1920. The Ramsdens are distinguished in their own right and also played a significant role in Yorkshire's history and brought with them a legacy of estate management and horticultural expertise. Today, the castle is owned by Iona Frost Pennington, the great-granddaughter of Sir John Ramsden, continuing the legacy of the Pennington family at Muncaster Castle.
Today, the National Genealogical Society and Earlham College holds the family's digital files. [9]
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