Dungate Family History

Probably chiefly from Danegate in Rotherfield (Sussex), recorded as Dounegate in 1428, Dengate in 1528, and Dungate in 172. The name is attested much earlier as a surname in the adjacent parish of Wadhurst (Sussex) and in the neighbouring hundred of Brenchley (Kent); Brenchley itself is only six miles from Wadhurst.

Downgate House in Wadhurst is recorded as Dungates in 1679 and may have been named from the family that lived there. An alternative source in eastern Kent is Dungate in Rodmersham, but this is not recorded until 1591 as Dongate, and one cannot altogether rule out the possibility that it was named from a branch of the Wadhurst family that had migrated there.

The surname Dungate is recorded in the adjacent parish of Lynsted in 1578. The place-name derives from Middle English doun (Old English dūn) ‘hill, down, upland expanse’ + Middle English gate (Old English geat) ‘gateway’.

It may have named a feature that crossed from Rotherfield into Wadhurst.