I retreived this from the Wayback machine in February 2019.

The Importance of being Rastrick

George Redmonds, Bradford Telegraph and Argus,14 July 1977

The names Raistrick and Rastrick which are identical in origin, derive from the hilltop village of Rastrick. Its position, together with the fact that it lies on the old trans-Pennine routes, tends to support the view that originally it meant a "resting point on the road".

It was a relatiively important place in the Middle Ages, and a family of the same name was certainly living there over 700 years ago, and the earliest references occur in the 1270s in surviving court rolls and the family status is indicated by the fact that John de Rastricke and descendants frequently held the manorial offices of greave and constable.

For something like 120 years the family remained in the village. In 1308, for example, the constable was Henry, son of John; in 1336 and 1348 it was another John.

Eventually, in the 1370s, a fascinating development took place. Henry de Rastricke had at least two sons. One retained the family surname, but the other based his on his father's christian name. A favourite form of Henry at that time was Han, and so this branch of the family which continued in Rastrick became known as Hanson. A deed of 1377 records that fact that "John de Rastrick being dead, John Hanson his cousin and heir paid 5s. for land in Woodhouse."

The departure of the Rastricks from Rastrick began about this period. Although a Thomas de Rastricke was constable in1397, there is evidence to show that the family owned land in Northowram, and in the 1379 Poll Tax, Roger de Rastrig of Northowram was the only person with this surname taxed in the Bradford and Halifax areas.

A generation later, just before 1400, a further migration took them into Calverley. This move was probably the most significant in the family history and has a permanent influence on the name's distribution and ultimately on the spelling also.

The documents relating to the Calverley family contain numerous references to the Rastricks right through the next 150 years and it is noticeable that the same christian names John and Henry predominate. Although occasionally in this period the surname is encountered furhter north, e.g. Ripon (1452) and Knaresborough (1521), no major expansion in numbers took place there and Rastrick remained an uncommon name into comparatively modern times.

Eventually, as 17th. Century documents show, it ramified in Airedale from Calverley to Rawdon and this is still the main home of the surname. Now, of course, the more usual spelling is Raistrick. This represents the colloquial pronunciation which finally prevailed when the association with Rastrick itself was lost. Spellings such as Restrick are recorded from as early as 1520.