Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• the Rocher 1647 YDr

Etymology

Rocher, the Rocher 1647 YDr, from OFr  rocher 'rock', v. Rocher 226, and Hartcliff Hill supra . The various references in YDr are interesting; Adam Eyre, the diarist, relates that on going fishing “I fastned my hook in the rocher-pit where I left it till morning” (p. 27); he laid stones “wayre-wise [i.e. in the manner of a weir] under the Rocher to turn the water” (p. 49); and further “wee stayed all day at the Rocher and got great stones out of the quarry there” (p. 52). The latter is a significant allusion to the rocks which the name describes.This place is distinct from the Rocher at Hartcliif Hill supra .