At aprx. which decade of what century did the average English peasant start passing his surname on to his kids?
I was thinking about this in Charing Cross tube station yesterday, according to the plaques the constructors of the original Charing Cross (built to mark the resting place of the body of Eleanor of Castile on route to her final resting place in Westminster Abbey in the late 13th century) were all still named after their place of origin, so William of Ireland was one of the masons (the other names escape me now but they were all someone of place name). Presumably these were the names recorded in a ledger of receipts and payments somewhere.
