I've been told that the surname DUERDEN is just a form of the name DEARDEN. Apparently, the name DEARDEN is local in origin, being one of those surnames derived from the place where a man once lived or held land. In this instance, the surname means simply "Of DEARDEN", being derived from the place DEARDEN, near Edenfield, Bury, in Lancashire. This was south of Burnley - the village no longer exists but there is still a Dearden Moor there. It's possible that the original bearer of the surname would have come from the place, Dearden, in medieval times. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the surname often occurred as De Deredene or De Derene and during the sixteenth century the surname appeared as Durden. It seems though, that the surname remained predominantly in Lancashire.

However, Grandpa (Herbert Duerden) had done some research on this in the 1930s, and he came to the conclusion that the name Duerden was of Viking origin and meant "Iron Hammer". Unfortunately, we don't know how he came to this conclusion.

Most of our Duerden ancestors came from Burnley in Lancashire, and worked in the mills, so you might find the section "What was life like as a millworker?" of interest.

Our Duerden Ancestors: