This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Fenton,' (1) a township near Carlisle, Cumberland; (a) a chapelry in the parish of Beckingham, Lincolnshire; (3) a hamlet in the parish of Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire; (4) a hamlet in the parish of Wooler, Northumberland.

Gilbert de Fenton, Yorkshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Robert de Fenton, Lincolnshire, ibid.

Thomas de Fenton, Devon, ibid.

Henry de Fenton, Lincolnshire, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

John de Fenton, Devon, ibid.

Ralph de Fenton, rector of Warham, Norfolk, 1358: History of Norfolk.

Ricardus de Fenton, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Johannes de Fenton, 1379: ibid.

Robertus de Fenton, 1379: ibid.

1741. Married — Perret Fenton and Mary Ashley: St. Mary Aldermary.

1807. — William Fenton and Elizabeth Beal: St. George, Hanover Square.

The earliest known individual of this name was John de Fenton, sheriff of Forfar in 1261 and following years. Although first appearing in Angus the name has doubt less been derived from the barony of Fenton in East Lothian, held by the Fentons of the lords of Dirleton. Sir William de Fentone sometime before 1270 married Cecilia de Bisset, daughter of Sir John Bisset of Lovat and so acquired the estate of Beaufort (HP., I, p. 210n), and in 1278 it was directed that he receive in the king's court his wife's pur-party of her father's lands in Ireland (Bain, II, 129). The same Sir William, of the county of Edinburgh, swore fealty to the king of England on July 23, 1291 (ibic., II. p. 124), and performed homage in 1298 (ibid., p. 169). His seal bears on a shield three crescents, two and one. and S' Domini Wilelmi de Fentun. Alexander de Fentoun witnessed a donation by Henry de Aynstrother to Dryburgh c. 1330 (Dryburgh, p. 252), and in 1362 William de Fenton enriched the old chapel of Baikie, in the parish of Airlie, with a gift of the adjoining lands of Lynros (now Linross) (RMS , I, 99). A later William of Fentoun, lord of that Ilk, acquired the lands of Quodquen in Clydesdale in 1413 (RMS., I, 942), and John de Fentoun is recorded as burgess of Edinburgh in 1426 (Egidii, p. 47). Willzame of Fentoun had a lease of the teinds of Cukistoun, 1478 (Cupar-Angus, I, p. 217), and Gilbert Fyntone witnessed a sasine in favor of Adam Crechtoun of Ruchtven (Ruthven), 1501 (Bamff, p. 39). The Angus Fentons continued in considerable repute till about the middle of the fifteenth century, when they ended in co-heiresses who married, one a Lyndsay and the other William, second son of Halket of Pitfirran (Jervise, Land of the Lindsays, p. 355). Their name, however, is still preserved in the district in Fenton Hill, the name of a rising ground near Lindertis. Some notes on the Fentons of the Aird, 1253—1422, are given in the Celtic magazine, Inverness, 1887, II, p. 84—90. Fendoun 1528.

Parishes and places in cos. York, Lincoln, and Stafford. The neighbourhood of Leeds was the principal habitat of the name in the XIV. cent.

From fenton, venton, a spring, fountain, well. There is Fenton in Ladock, and there are several names compounded of venton. But the Fentons are not always from Cornwall. There are parishes and places called Fenton (perhaps "the fenny enclosure or town") in cos. Lincoln, Stafford, and York.

(Welsh or Br.) A well.

(Cornish British) A spring well.

Fenton was a Notts surname six centuries ago (H. R.). There is a hamlet of the name in the county.