Walker History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The origins of the Walker surname lie with the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name Walker began when someone in that family worked as a fuller, whose job it was to scour and thicken raw cloth by beating it and trampling it in water. The surname Walker is derived from the Old English word wealcere, which means fuller. “In the North of England, fullers’ earth is called ‘walker’s clay,’ and a fulling-mill a ‘walk-mill.’ In Scotland, to walk, still means to full cloth.” 1

This occupation has a long history as “cloth before the introduction of the roller had to be trodden underfoot. In Wyckliffe’s version of the Transfiguration he describes Christ’s raiment as shining so as no ‘fullers or walkers of cloth’ could whiten.” 2

Early Origins of the Walker family

The surname Walker was first found in Yorkshire, where they were believed to be descended from a very ancient tribe called the Wealceringas, and the name is considered to be one of the oldest in England. Their early records have been obscured but in the 12th century, they were recorded as landholders in Yorkshire.

“This name is mainly characteristic of the midlands and of the north of England. It is comparatively infrequent in the counties between the Wash and the Thames. It is absent or rare in the southern part of England south of a line joining the mouths of the Thames and the Severn. Its great home in the midlands is in the counties of Derby and Nottinghamshire. In the north it is most frequent in Durham and Yorkshire.” 3

One of the first records of the family was Richard le Walkere, recorded in Warwickshire c. 1248. The Assize Rolls of 1260 listed Robert le Walker in 1260. 4 Later, Richard le Walker was rector of the church of St. Elphin, Warrington, Lancashire in 1396. 5