Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to “develop” often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling. The surname of CHAPPELL was a locational name, i.e. “dwelling near a chapel or church”.
This Chappell surname has its interesting origins in early medieval English times with two possible sources.
The first source is from a topographical name for someone who lived close to a church or chapel, derived from the Middle English (1200-1500), Old French “chapel(l)e”, or from the Latin “capella”, which means a hood or cloak but later transferred to the sense of a chapel or sanctuary.
The second source is from an occupational name for someone employed in a chapel, derived from the same elements as the first source. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognizable distinguishing names.
Some of the spellings can be found as Chappell, Chapell, Chapple, Capelle and Capewell.
Among the sample recordings in London is the christening of Abraham, son of Thomas and Ann Chapple, on August 7th 1623 at St. Botolph’s Cathedral at Bishopsgate.
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Chapel, which was dated 1202, in the “Pipe Rolls of Norfolk”, during the reign of King John, known as “Lackland”, 1199 – 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax.
Early records of the Chappell name mention John Capel, 1202 County Norfolk. Richard de la Chapele, 1296 Sussex, Johannes del Chapell of Yorkshire, who were listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. William Chappell and Margaret Heeley were married in London in 3689. Thomas, son of Thomas Chapel, was baptized at St. James Church in Clerkenwell in London in 1689. William Kynford of Whitechapple (coachman) married Mary Jenkins at St. Mary Abbey in London in 1705.
The Chappell names were introduced into Britain by the Normans during and in the wake of the Invasion of 1066 and were territorial in origin. The followers of William the Conqueror were a pretty mixed lot, and while some of them brought the names of their castles and villages in Normandy with them. Many were adventurers of different nationalities attached to William’s standard by the hope of capture and plunder and possessing no family or territorial names of their own. Many of them who acquired lands in England were called by their manors or castles. Others took the name of offices or ranks they held in the military.
Sometimes, a younger son of a Norman landowner after receiving a grant of land in Britain would drop his paternal name and adopt that of his newly acquired property.
At first the Coat of Arms was a practical matter which served the function on the battlefield or tournaments. With his helmet covering his face and armor covering a person from head to toe, the Coat of Arms was the only way to identify the person.
The Coat of Arms most associated with the family was granted on 20th October, 1686 to Richard Chappell, Deputy-Auditor-General and has the blazon of a gold shield thereon a black anchor between two chaplets in fess vert. The crest is a head of a lion on top of a shield holding a cup in his paw.