The Corfield name originated in Shropshire to the east of Church Stretton in the valley of the River Corve in the reign of King Henry II (1154-1189). The name is taken from Corfield village which itself is taken from the river Corve. Corfield village does not exist any longer but on its site, or at least close to it, is Corfield Farm. As early as the 14th century the Corfields became associated with Cardington, which lies in Ape Dale. Ape Dale lies parallel to and to the north west of Corve Dale with Wenlock Edge lying between the two. For centuries the family lived in this beautiful area of England before various branches moved out of the area. Corfields can now be found in Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.
The area of Corve and Ape Dales is very rural with narrow winding lanes between villages and hamlets. The churches are generally left unlocked for those want to have a look around. St. James Cardington  is the church at the centre of the Corfield area and has a number of plaques inside it referring to the Corfields.
Inside St. Michael and All Angels, Stanton Long , which is close to Corfield, there are two Corfields mentioned on the war memorial.
For more photos of the churches of the area and of some of the plaques, memorials and graves please go to this interactive map of Corve Dale.
As and when time permits I shall be adding to and updating and hopefully improving this site.
Chatwall, which is no longer owned by a Corfield, was for many years the seat of the Corfield family.
 

HISTORY OF THE RESEARCH.
Judging by this letter by Frederick Corfield (1821-1883) there was very little known about the Corfield family in 1851, when the letter was written. It was Frederick Corfield's son, Frederick Channer Corfield (1849-1904) who did an immense amount of research on the Corfield family and a great deal of what you see on this web site is due to his work. He travelled around the country and wrote many letters to vicars and rectors of parishes in his quest for information. This letter written in 1874, to my great grandfather Thomas Corfield, must be one of many thousand that he wrote requesting and giving information. In another of his letters, written in 1873, he writes that he believes that the name Caulfield may also be linked in some way to Corfield, but he was unable to find any definite link. In fact it is probable that Corfield, Caulfield, Cawfield and Cawlfield are the same family. Preferences for different spelling arose from divisions in the families due to religious or patriotic reasons and were phonetically recorded by scribes. Hence Caulfield is Corfield spoken with an Irish accent.
In 1993, Justin J. Corfield, who now teaches History and International Studies at Geelong Grammar School in Australia, published "The Corfields. A History of the Corfields from 1180 to the present day  (ISBN 0646143336)". This remarkable book has some 9000 names in it and must have taken an enormous amount of work. With the advent of the computer and the internet it is now possible to broadcast all this information to a wider audience, and this is what I am attempting to do at the same time as tying all the threads together.
This is not one continuous tree. The main tree starts with Edward de Corve who is the earliest Corfield so far discovered. At first I tried to keep one continuous tree but as time went on I realised that this was impossible.   I am also adding all relations regardless of their surnames that I come across.

If you find any errors or have any additional information please let me know by e-mailing me at  rogcorfield@aol.com

To download the tree as a gedcom file click here corfield.ged 

To download the tree as a PAF5 file (Personal Ancestry File) click here corfield.paf

To download the tree as a Legacy7 file (fdb) click here corfield.fdb

To download a descendancy chart in pdf format click here corfield.pdf 

For part of the Ordnance Survey map of the area click here ordnancesurveymap.jpg  

(Note Corfield Farm) at grid reference 574920  just to the north of Stanton Long.)
(Get-a-map service image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland).

Link to Cardington village web site http://cardington.org.uk

• Map A large scale map of the area
• The Long Mynd A view of the Long Mynd, to the west of Church Stretton, in winter.
• Church Stretton This small town lies a few miles to the west of Cardington.
• Cardington Shrewsbury Council's Conservation Area Appraisal of Cardington.
• Plaque in Cardington Church re: Thomas Corfield This complicated inscription is correct. I've checked.
• Plaque in Cardington Church re: Frederick Channer Corfield who did much of the work in this tree.
• Plaque in Cardington Church re: Richard Fitzherbert Corfield son of Frederick Channer Corfield.
• Plaque in Cardington Church re: Charlotte Jeanette Corfield  wife of Charles Russell Corfield.
• Plaque in Cardington Church where a R. Corfield is mentioned in passing. Richard Corfield who was christened in this church on 15th February 1613
• The interior of Cardington Church.  Where many Corfields have been baptised, married and buried.

This site by Roger Corfield: e-mail rogcorfield@aol.com