Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Rap c.1180,1259,1322 AddCh 12(17),l13 Chol

• Rape 1259 AddCh 1308 ChRR

• Rop H3 AddCh 14 P 1280

• Ropp 1584 Sheaf

• Roppe 1621 Orm2 1656

• Roop 1311 AddCh

• Roope 1449 Sheaf

• R(o)ep 1359 BPR

• Rope 1416 ChRR 1842 OS

• le Rope 1432 AddCh

Etymology

'The rope', from rāp. This unusual p.n. may be analogous with the Rapes of Sussex, alluding to a space roped off for a meeting-place, cf. Sx 8–9. From its central position in the Hundred, Rope could have been the location of 'Wǣrmund's tree', cf. 1supra . However, a 'rope' was an ancient land-measure and the el. appears elsewhere in Ch, v. Rapdowl (e )s 226infra , so this p.n. may be simply 'a rope of land', v. NED, rope sb, 2a.