This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Burdon.' There are two townships of this name in County Durham, which have given their title to a local family.

John de Burdon, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire: Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

Nicholas de Burdon, Wiltshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Lucya de Burdune, Devon, ibid.

Thomas Burdon, Yorkshire, ibid.

Robertus Burdon, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.:

1597. Jeffery Burden, Wiltshire: Register of the University of Oxford.

1797. Married — Edward Burden and Susannah Randall: St. George, Hanover Square.

1808. — William Jackman and Sarah Burdon: ibid.

Probably from the place now called Burdon in the county of Durham, where a family of the name are found shortly after the Norman Conquest. Thomas Burdun witnessed a charter by Ebrardus de Penkathleht to the church of St. Cuthbert of Durham in the reign of William the Lion (Raine, 163). William de Bourdon witnessed a charter of Alexander 11 to Hugh de Abernethy, c. 1245 (Nisbet, I, p. 419). de Burdon witnessed a charter of Sir Ralph Noble of half the lands of Kenpunt to David Graham. Sir William Burdone swore fealty in 1291, and in 1296 Rogier de Burghdone of Blakeder in Berwickshire and Wautier de Burghdone of Roxburghshire rendered homage (Bain, II, p. lix, 199,203). The seal of the latter bears the legend S' Walteri de Bvrdvn (Macdonald, 294). In 1337 the manor of Blakeder is mentioned "que fuerunt Roberti de Burghone qui de Rege tenuit in capite" (Bain, III, 371). John Burdon, one of the suite of the earl of Angus, had a safe conduct in England, 1357. The Burdons of Perthshire claimed descent from a younger son of the Lamonts of that Ilk (in the reign of Robert III), but no certain proof of connection exists. Burdens are found in possession of Auchingarrich in the parish of Strowan in middle of sixteenth century, and several individuals named Burdon are recorded in the parish of Muthill and district in seventeenth century (Dunblane). John Burdoun was minister at Balquhidder, 1574 (RMR.). In Edinburgh the name was recorded as Burdon and Burdoun (Edinb. Marr.).

(English) belonging to Burdon = the Castle- Hill [O..E. burh, a stronghold +dún, a hill] This name is hardly connected with the O. French bourdon, 'a pilgrim’s staff.’

(English) One who came from Burdon (valley with a cow barn, or hill with a fort), the name of several places in England.

Or bourdon, a palmer’s staff, which, with his scrip, always received a solemn benediction from the priest before he set out on his journey. Pilgrims were privileged way farers, guarded as far as possible against all contingencies. Their lives were held sacred, and they could not be taken prisoners; for the tokens they carried away from each shrine they visited guaranteed their safety wherever they might go. Those who had been to the Holy Land were called Sainte- Terres (whence we derive saunter); those who had been to Mont S. Michel, Michelots; and those who had been to Rome, Romers (the origin of the verb to roam), or in Italian, as Dante tells us, Romei; thus Romeo would signify a pilgrim to Rome. Shakespeare’s Romeo appears at the masque in the garb of a pilgrim; and it was a favourite disguise in mediæval times, adopted by any man engaged in a hazardous venture, or traversing an enemy’s country. It was in palmer’s weeds that Cœur de Lion attempted to make his way through the hostile territory of the Duke of Austria. “Les Croisés et les Pélérins ne manquaient pas, avant leur départ, d’aller faire bénir à l’Eglise leur escarcelle avec leur bourdon, et Saint Louis fit cette cérémonie à S. Denis.”—Le Grand Fabliaux: vol. i., p. 310.

This name, no doubt given or assumed in memory of some pilgrimage, was common both in Normandy and England. During the latter half of the twelfth century it occurs several times in the Exchequer Rolls of the Duchy; and William Burdon, according to Duchesne, held of the Honour of Grentemesnil. Four Bourdons—Bourdon de Gramont du Lys, Bourdon du Lys, Bourdon du Quesnay, and Bourdon de Pommeret—were present in the Assembly of the Norman nobles in 1789; the latter had only been enrolled in their ranks the year preceding, and bore D'argent a trois bourdons de pélérins de gueules.

In the co. Durham we find the family seated very soon after the Conquest Roger Burdon witnesses a deed in Bishop Flambard’s time (1099-1133); and Elfer and Amfrid de Birdan appear in the Domesday of the North, the “Bolden Buke” compiled between 1153 and 1194. The name is retained by two villages in the Parish of Bishop-Wearmouth, East and West Burdon (otherwise Old Burdon and Towne Burdon), and was frequent in the county. In 1320 Hugh Burdon of Ivesley-Burdon left Agnes his daughter and heir. Rowland Burdon of Stockton in 1644 had a certificate “that he is well affected to the Parliament.” Eve, daughter of T. Burdon of Old Burdon, was baptized in 1653. “The last descendants of this family,” says Surtees, “were Quakers.” They bore allusive arms: three palmer’s staves, intersemé of cross-crosslets. The Burdons of Castle Eden, still represented, descend from a Thomas Burdon who was nine times Mayor of Stockton-on-Tees in the time of Ed. IV.

The family is found in many different parts of the country. Arnulph Burdon held a mansion in Winchester, 1148 (Winton Domesday): and Robert Burdon was Lord of Kingsteignton, Devon, temp. Richard I. (Pole’s Devon). Burdon, near High Hampton, retains the name in the county. Robert Burdon was of Yorkshire, in 1255 (Roberts, Excerpta): and at about the same date, or a little later, Roger Burdon of Burdon’s Hall, Boscomb, occurs in Wiltshire. His last heir-male died in the time of Ed. III. (Hoare’s Wilts). Mapledec or Malebec in Nottinghamshire was “held anciently by the Burdons.” John Burdon witnesses a charter of Ameissa (Agnes) the wife of Eustace Fitz John, t. Henry I.: and a second John (probably his son) was a benefactor of Rufford Abbey. “The last of the line was Sir Nicholas Burdon, who fell at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1402, leaving Elizabeth, his daughter and heir, married to Sir Richard Markham, the son of the Judge.”—Thoroton's Notts.

Two townships in co. Durham.

Lower says this name is probably a corruption of bourdon, a pilgrim's staff,—a very appropriate sign for a wayside hostelry. It may be local, derived from Bour, a house (from the Saxon bure, a bed—chamber), and den, a valley—the house in the valley.

From some local name ending in den (Anglo-Saxon den, dene, deorn, a plain, vale, dale, valley); or from Burdon, name of two townships co. Durham.

Petrus Burdonius witnessed a Norman charter, 1126 (MSAN, v. 197). Galfrid, John, Ernald, Sylvester Bordon and others occur in Normandy, 1180-98 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae). Arnulph Burdin held a mansion at Winchester, 1148 (Wint. Domesd.). Ralph Bourdon paid a fine in Lincoln, 1203 (Rotulus Cancellarii). In 1255 Robert Borden was of Yorkshire (Roberts, Excerpta).

Burdon: a name found shortly after the Conquest, in Durham. But “burdon” signifies a pilgrim’s staff, and there may have been many Burdons throughout the county.

Burdon is the name of two townships in the county. From the end of the 15th to the close of the 18th century eighteen mayors of Stockton - on - Tees bore this name (B.), which is still represented in the town. Darlington also has possessed the name ever since the 14th century, when it was written "De Burdon" (Long.).