Bradshaw surname meaning

Bradshaw is an English habitational surname from any of several places called Bradshaw—most famously the township near Bolton in Lancashire, with others in Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The name combines Old English brād, “broad,” and sceaga, “thicket” or “copse,” so the sense is “broad wood” or “broad clearing in brush.” Early records spell Bradeshaghe or Bradshaigh; a local family held the Lancashire manor from the thirteenth century. Bradshawe is a historical spelling. Place is the catalog type, and the Old English place-name analysis is high confidence.