English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Raisdale

Early-attested site in the Parish of Helmsley

Historical Forms

  • Riedesdal' 1204 FF
  • Reydhesdalle 1246 Riev
  • Raythesdale 1268 Ch 1273 Riev 1293 QW
  • Reythesdal' 1259 Ass
  • Raisedale, Raysedale 1301 LS 1377 Baildon
  • Raysdale 1538 Riev

Etymology

'Reith's valley' v. dæl . The first element, Lindkvist suggests, is an ON  personal name Hreiðr , probably a short form of ON  Hreiðulfr (LindN). There are, however, Norw  place-names Røsæk (ONorw í Røydesæik ) and ONorw í Røydiseim (Rygh, NG i. 121), and from these cases its original form seems rather to have been Røyðr or Røyðir , an i -mutated form of the well- evidenced ON  pers. name Rauðr (LindN).