Gripton Family History

We would like you to help us build a useful website for anyone interested in the surname Gripton.

Would Griptons here in the U.K be interested in Annual Reunions, a Gripton "club" etc ? We would like to know what you think and how you could join us and help other Griptons.

Famous Griptons is a question we are often asked, none spring to mind, have you got any ancestors with an interesting life story you would like featured?

Gripton Crest and Coat of Arms is another often asked question,
We aren't aware of one!

We are often asked, "where do the Gripton's come from ?"
Most likely to have originated on the Shropshire/Staffs border near to the A5 road, areas such as Shifnal, Newport, Gnosall, Haughton, Rushall and Walsall Wood.

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Early Griptons have been found in church records c1680 in Market Drayton, Shropshire, however around 1750 there seemed to be more Griptons living along the A518 road between Newport and Stafford.

There was another Gripton clan in London c1700, Edward Gripton married Mary Williams on January 5th 1702 at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster, and John, son of John and Rebekah Gripton, was christened on May 10th 1727, at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London. Thomas, son of Thomas and Lucy Gripton, was christened on February 6th 1744 at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster,together with an odd Gripton family in Bethnal Green and Shoreditch in the East End of London.

There are no known links between the Griptons of London and Shropshire/Staffs c1700.

The surname is of English locational origin from one of the thousands of villages and hamlets that have now disappeared from the maps in Britain.

Gripton is composed of the Old English pre 7th Century elements "gripu" meaning "kettle or caldron" plus "tun", "enclosure or homestead", hence a tun in the deep valley.

By 1850 Griptons had migrated into the industrial areas of the "Black Country" such as Bilston, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich.

In the 1900-1920 era large Gripton families were migrating to areas such as Mansfield, Newport South Wales, Peterborough, Liverpool and Pontefract.