The earliest Rastrick name I have found is mentioned in an artilcle in the Yorkshire Archaelogical Journal by John Armitage, F.S.A. Ancient Pedigree of Hanson of Rastrick. Rogerus de Rastricke, 1251, son of William de Binglaia (Bingley?) "held land in Rastrick, Skircoat and Clayton, and lived at Lillands, now remaining as Lillands Farm, near the river Calder and opposite Brookfoot, near Brighouse". However, after several generations of de Rastrickes, ending with Henry de Rastricke many of the subsequent generations changed their name to Hanson (son of Henry).
J Horsfall Turner, The History of Brighouse, Rastrick and Hipperholme mentions a Thomas de Rastryk who was appointed constable at Brighouse court, and several court cases between 1307 and 1329 involving various de Rastricks.
The Brighouse Echo of February 2, 1919 contained an article written by Mr A Lee:
"I am sending for your acceptance a copy of a photograph of an oil painting of my great-great-grandfather, John Rastrick (1738-1826) a descendant of another old local family, which according to family tradition, was of Saxon origin, and coming over from the Continent, settled in Yorkshire some years before the Norman Conquest, giving their name to the place at which they settled.
I have in my possession some family notes in the hand writing of this John Rastrick which may interest some of your readers from an antiquarian standpoint. In his writings he describes himself as a civil engineer, of Morpeth, Northumberland, the son of one William Rastrick (1695 - 1772) of Rastrick and Pudsey, who was the last member of the family resident at Rastrick House, and whose father, William Rastrick, was a 'defender of the Protestant church, and who spent his great estate in support of the war and of King William III'. He further writes that the family bore the name of 'de Rastrick' until their removal into Northumberland in the year 1688, when they dropped the prefix 'de'."
George Redmond, in the English Surname Series, Vol. 1 Yorkshire, West Riding writes:
"It is interesting to note that in the 14th. Century the Rastrick family divided into two branches. The branch which remained at Rastrick took the surname Hanson - itself a localized surname with its main concentration in the Huddersfield area. The branch retaining the surname Rastrick eventually migrated to Calverley in Airedale, and the present localised distribution of the two variants suggests that this family name has a single origin, for it is Bradford and Shipley which is the true home of the surname now. In 1965, out of a West Riding total of 81, only one example was found in Huddersfield."
The Bradford Telegraph and Argus, 14 July 1977 contained an article by George Redmond entitled The Importance of Being Rastrick, which gives further insight into the origins and spread of the name.