The Pragnells of West Tytherley
The Pragnell Name
In 1851 Pragnell was the most common name in West Tytherley and the surrounding area, albeit rare elsewhere. Our family lived in School Cottages, now long gone. The village school opened in 1855 and prior to that there was a School House built in 1844 for the Baring Family.
The name Pragnell is an unusual one and appears to be a variant of the older surname Prangnell. The meaning is obscure but it Roger Prangnell in the privately published 'The Prangnells of Hampshire' suggests could possibly be Old English meaning someone who was a show off or who dressed in a flashy style. It appears to have originally been Prangnell but changed gradually due to spelling and pronunciation errors during the 17th and 18th centuries. The earliest published record of the name is in the mediaeval state papers called the Close Rolls, which state
"Galfred Le Sauvage appoints Richard Prangenel and Simon Strange against Hugh de Castillon, the petitioner, over 2 acres of land and appurtenances in Leckhampstead, Bucks"
Indeed some people have suggested that there may be a connection with Newport Pagnell in Bucks but I am not aware of any further evidence to support this. The name Pagnell is in fact a variant of the name Payn. The Payn family was the most influential family in Mediaeval Newport Pagnell. Instead the very earliest parish records of the Pragnell/Prangnell family are found in the registers of the Isle of Wight. Roger Pragnell's research shows that by the 16th century there are no Pragnells/Prangnells in Buckinghamshire. Indeed, Wilfred Pragnell remembers how his grandmother used to tell him that that our family originated on the Isle of Wight. A number of other Pragnell researchers also quote family tales of how between 8 and 10 Pragnell brothers or cousins left the Isle of Wight in the 16th century and moved to the West Tytherley area where they found work rebuilding Norman Court and also in the wooded area around the villages. There is no factual evidence to support this, although there is evidence that the Pragnell name was local to the Isle of Wight at this time and there is documented proof that many islanders left during the 16th century in search of more lucrative employment in mainland Hampshire.
A study of birth places and residences found in the 1881 census showed that at this time most of the people bearing the name Pragnell/Prangnell had been born in Hampshire and the Isle of White. Those that had moved from their birth place had mostly moved within these two counties, with a few spreading east and west into Surrey, Sussex , Wiltshire and Dorset. A study of the 1998-2000 telephone directories for the whole of England and Wales showed that the name was still concentrated in Hampshire/Wiltshire borders and the Isle of Wight, with small but significant numbers in Dorset and Surrey.