Origin of Skinner
THE FAMILY OF SKINNER
Skynar, Skyner, Skynnar, Skynner, Skener, Skinhur and Skinner was a Danish name meaning the Keeper of Robes, or skins then worn, and after the overthrow of the Danes in England under King Alfred (A.D.878) a treaty was concluded between the two, in virtue of which, the entire Kingdom of Wessex, from Somerset to Kent, was evacuated by the Danes, who were allowed however to retain the greater part of the east coast of England from Lincoln northward, which district (Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Northumberland) was called "Dane-law", which name it retained down to the Norman Conquest - A.D.1066, because the inhabitants were ruled by Danish and not by English Law. See Chambers Encyclopaedia Vol. 3. p.413.
Sir Robert Skinner, Kinsman of the beautiful Arlotta" of Falaise, Mother of William the Conqueror, was invited by the Conqueror to return to England and establish himself at Bolingbroke in Lincolnshire, as husband of the Saxon heiress, there resident. This tradition, preserved in all branches of this wide spread family is confirmed by a Pedigree deposited at Heralds College in 1703 with Robert Dale, then Blanch Lion Poursuivant Extraordinary (see his M.S.S.Vol 23) by the hand of the Rev. William Skynner, Vicar of Sunbury.
It appears that about 1440, Robert Skynner, a Monk attached to the Priory of Little Malvern invited a younger brother of the House of Bolingboke, his brother John, to settle near him, and in a Window of Little Malvern Priory; installed about 1440, is this record of John's son - "Orate pro animabus Robert Skynner at Isabellae uxoris ejus, et filiorum suorum et filiarum".
Little Malvern Priory - a fragment of the late Norman work of the nave arcade dates from 1171.
From this "Robert Skynner" was descended "Skynner of Le Byrtons" near Ledbury, Herefordshire, buried in the Chancel of Ledbury Church circa 1544, the Common Ancestor of the respective families of "Skinner".
The Spire of St.Michael's Church, Ledbury - as seen from the picturesque Church Lane.
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