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SLADE Family History

This interesting surname is apparently of topographical origin, and as such derives from the Old English pre 7th Century 'slaed' - a valley. However a second explanation is that a 'slade' in the South of England may also refer to a strip of agricultural land in a woodland, whilst a person working or living at such a place would have been a 'slader'. The following rhyme appears in the early stories of Robin Hood - 'It had been better of William a' Trent, to have been abed with sorrowe, than to be that day in the greenwood slade, and to meet with Little John's arrowe'...