Coldwell History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Among the the peoples of ancient Scotland, the first to use the name Coldwell were the Strathclyde-Britons. Coldwell was a name for someone who lived in Renfrrewshire. This place-name may also be derived from the Old English words caeld, which means cold, and welle,which means well, and indicates that the original bearer lived near a well that gave cold water.

Early Origins of the Coldwell family

The surname Coldwell was first found in Renfrewshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Rinn Friù), a historic county of Scotland, today encompassing the Council Areas of Renfrew, East Renfrewshire, and Iverclyde, in the Strathclyde region of southwestern Scotland, at the Caldwell Tower, a mansion and old estate that dates back to 1294.

The current Caldwell Tower stands on a mound, and is a small, free-standing tower that was probably built in the 16th century. 

It was fully restored in 2011 with the addition of a small extension. Caldwell is also a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire. 

“The old family of the name appears to have ended in the direct line in an heiress in the fifteenth century. In 1342 there is an entry of the fee of William de Caldwell. Robert Cauldwell was a merchant in the service of Sir John of Montgomery, 1405.” [1]

The Caudle variant may be related to a thickened and sweetened alcoholic hot drink so named. It was popular in the Middle Ages for its supposed medicinal properties and dates back to at least 1297.

Further to the south in the English county of Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 listed: Johannes de Coldwell; and Thomas de Coldwele. [2]

Early History of the Coldwell family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Coldwell research.

Coldwell Spelling Variations

Medieval Scottish names are rife with spelling variations. This is due to the fact that scribes in that era spelled according to the sound of words, rather than any set of rules. Coldwell has been spelled Caldwell, Coldwell, Caldwill, Cauldwell, Cauldwill, Cawldwell, Guildwell, Calewell, Caldewell and many more.

Early Notables of the Coldwell family (pre 1700)

Notable amongst the family at this time was Blessed John Fenwick, born John Caldwell (1628-1679), an English Jesuit, executed at the time of the Popish Plot, a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI. Richard Caldwall (1505?-1584), was an English physician, born in Staffordshire about 1505. “He was educated at Brasenose.