Geographic Origins of the Lockards
Historians believe the Lockard family name has origins with the Strathclyde Britons. This ancient, founding race of the north was a mixture of Gaelic and Celtic people whose original territories ranged from Lancashire in the south, then northward to the river Clyde in Scotland. From 400 AD to 900 AD their territory was overrun first by the Irish Gaels, then the Anglos from the East, and finally by the Picts and Dalriadans from the north. However, their basic culture remained relatively undisturbed. By 1000 AD the race had formed into discernible clans and families.
Mother England
Like so many Scottish families, the first Lockards came from England where they were among those disposessed of their lands by William the Conqueror--King of England from 1066 until his death in 1087.
Different spellings of the Lockard surname are found throughout ancient archives. From time to time the surname was spelled Lockhart, Lockhard, Locard, Lockheart, or Lockart, and these changes in spellings occurred frequently, even between father and son. In fact, since scribes and church officials recorded the name from its sound, they sometimes changed the spelling of the same person's name at birth, death, or marriage.
Growing Roots in Scotland
There were Lockards in Penrith in the twelfth century and later in Annandale, where the town of Lockerbie is said to be named after them. The family finally settled in the southern region of Scotland, near the English border, in the lands of Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, where they have held land for nearly eight hundred years.
The Lockards in Lanarkshire have a long history and were seated with manor and estates in that shire. This distinguished family acquired the estates of Carnwath, Cleghorn, Birkhill, Kirktoun, and Leigh (also known as Lee). Lee Castle still stands today on a three hundred acre estate; it has seven towers and over fifty rooms.
Border Life
The border of England and Scotland was created on a line from Carlisle to Berwick in the east. Many Strathclyde families straddled the border but continued to be unified clans--powers unto themselves.
After 1000 AD, border life was in turmoil. In 1246, six chiefs from the Scottish side and six from the English side met at Carlisle and produced a set of laws governing all the border Clans. These were unlike any laws prevailing in England or Scotland or, for that matter, anywhere else in the world. It was, for example, a far greater offense to refuse to help a neighbor recover his property, wife, sheep, cattle or horses than it was to steal them in the first place! For refusal of assistance during a "hot trod" a person could be hanged instantly, without trial. Hence the expression "hot trod," or hot pursuit, from which we get "hot to trot." Frequently, the descendants of these clans or families apologetically refer to themselves as being descended from "cattle thieves" or "horse thieves" when, in fact, it was an accepted way of life on the border.