Tuesdays are history days at the Celtic Sheltie blog. Today I’m writing about something near and dear to my heart. I’ve always felt the draw of my ancestors, and I’ve always known that they were Celtic. Deep down, I’ve always felt that. Does that sound corny? Maybe it does. I don’t think it does, but that’s me.
Anyway, I wanted to write today about a surname in my family on the paternal side that has always caught my attention. They spelled it, Liddicoat. Liddicoat is a habitational name from various places in eastern Cornwall, known as Lidcott, Lydcott, Ludcott, and Lidcutt. These names are all from Old Cornish luit = gray + cuit = wood. It originated in Cornwall, England. The ancient people who lived there were Celtic.
As an aside, some of my maternal ancestors were Welsh, and Wales was at one time named Brittany, where the Britons lived. Who were the Britons? They were Celtic people.
Not only does the Liddicoat surname catch my attention, but the fact that Cornwall is where Tintagel Castle stands. What is Tintagel Castle, you ask? Well, Tintagel is where King Arthur was born, the son of Uther Pendragon. Now, no one is sure if Arthur or Uther were real people, but the places from those legends exist. Even more exciting for me. My ancestors lived there. If the story of King Arthur was true, did my ancestor have any part in it? Wouldn’t that be interesting?
Here is the visitors’ site on Tintagel. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/tintagel-castle/
There is more I could write about here, like my great, great, grandfather Thomas H. W. Liddecoat, also known as Brother Tom, who founded the Midnight Mission in Los Angeles for wayward, homeless men who needed a place to sleep, eat, and hear about God. The Midnight Mission is still open. I wanted to share a picture of my Thomas, but I can’t find one online and I don’t have one scanned into my computer or in the cloud. Maybe another post.
I know this post isn’t Celtic history, but in a way, it is. It’s my personal Celtic history. I’ve even gone to mytrueancestry.com and used the DNA information that ancestry.com had from me doing their DNA test. My True Ancestry shows ancient people you may be related to or at least share DNA. I like it because it offers so much information and shows that I do have Celtic blood. I find this stuff fascinating. I want to know from where I came. You know, that long line of survivors who made me possible?
I hope you enjoyed today’s post. I want to share exciting things with you all, and I hope this might be one of those things.
