The
name FOSKETT, and its modern-day derivatives FOSKITT, FASKETT, FORSCUTT
and FOSGATE are derived from the place name FOXCOTE, FOXCOTT or
FOSCOTE. It appears in very few "dictionaries of surnames"
although those which mention the name appear to believe that it means a
fox-infested cottage.
There
are several places in England with the name and some date back to the
Domesday Book of 1086. Others appear later, but the earliest
mention yet discovered is from the 10th Century with the name of
FOSCOTE near Grittleton in Wiltshire. This place was called
Foxcotone in the year 940 AD.
Domesday Book Entries 1086:
Fulsecote, Hampshire (Now Foxcot near Andover)
Follescote, Berkshire
Fuscote, Somerset (Forscote)
Foxescote, Buckinghamshire (Foscot)
Foxcote, Oxfordshire
Fuscote, Gloucestershire (Foxcote)
Other places: (with earliest known reference)
1197 Foscote, Abthorpe, Northamptonshire
1316 Foxcote, Ilmington, Warwickshire
1316 Foxcote, Kinlet, Shropshire
Whether
the family took their name from one or all of the above places or
whether some of the places took their name from the family is open to
question. However in at least one instance there is evidence to
support the latter. The earliest family of the name of FOXCOT is
from Hampshire where the place is a tiny hamlet close to the market
town of Andover. It would seem strange and more than a
coincidence that FOXCOTE in Gloucestershire is adjacent to a village
called Andoversford.
The
pre-Domesday mention of the name could indicate that the name is Saxon
in origin and it is probable (although by no means certain) that the
original families were Saxon and not Norman. However the name
could pre-date Saxon times because some of the Foxcote villages lie
close to the Fosse Way, an ancient Roman road which crosses England
from the south-west to Lincolnshire. Even the Hampshire Foxcot,
which does not fall into the pattern, lies directly on another Roman
road called the Portway. The word Fosse was used to describe a
ditch lying alongside the Roman road.
Some
correspondents have suggested that the name is of French origin, based
on two items of very flimsy evidence. One is a letter, written in
about 1911, to an American from an English correspondent who suggests
the name is French. The letter quotes no sources and is riddled
with inconsistencies which would indicate that that this ninety year
old “genealogist” had not researched the name or origins
systematically, quoting two events 200 years apart as if they were
closely linked. This letter can be seen here. The second item is the claim by the wealthy
family of Foskett’s in the 19th century, that their Foskett ancestors
were Huguenot and had escaped the persecution in France in the late
17th century. No evidence has been found that this is a fact and
it is suspected that the story was used to hide the humble beginnings
of the family concerned.