Roylance Family History

English (Lancashire and Cheshire): variant of Rylands; see Ryland. Middle English ryelandes -londes refers to the strips of arable land where rye was grown within one of the large open fields that were typical of medieval communal farming; as a phrase it could be used to name an open field where rye predominated.

Habitational name from Rylance, a lost place in Pownall Fee (Cheshire). The placename has the same meaning ‘rye land(s)’ as in 1 above with vacillation between singular and plural forms.

Surnames from it are difficult to distinguish from Rylands or a Rylance from other sources.