Oldfield Family History

English (mainly Yorkshire and Lancashire): topographic name for someone who lived by ‘the old field’ (Middle English olde + feld) or who lived in a district that had been named in Old English as ‘the old open country’ (ald feld). This is the source of placenames such as Allfield in Condover (Shropshire), Alfell Farm in Elmstead (Essex), Oldfield Grove in Langley (Essex), and several places in Cambridgeshire called (The) Offal as well as many places called Oldfield in Yorkshire.

Oldfield near Ludden Foot in Sowerby and another place so called in Honley next to Meltham are known to have given rise to hereditary surnames.