Shapcott Family History

Apparently from Shapcott Barton, a hamlet in Knowstone (Devon), where members of the family bearing this surname lived in the early 16th century and were lords of Knowstone manor from the early 17th century, if not before. The place is called Shepcott in 1541 and is evidently named with Middle English shepcote ‘sheep shed’ or ‘sheep fold’ (Old English scēap + cot).

However, the earliest evidence for the place-name occurs by implication in the family name Shapcott or Shepcott attested in 1524 and 1539. It is possible therefore that the place-name was manorial, deriving not from a sheep shed or sheep fold there but from the surname of the property's occupants.

If so, Shapcott may be a palatalized form of the gentry surname Sapcote, perhaps influenced by the local word shepcote.