Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Colder 1266 MinAcct

• Kalder 1314 Pat

• Calder 1314 Ipm 1366 Ch 1561 WillY

• Caldre 1327 Ipm 1437 Whit

• Cauder 1607 PRSk

• Cawderhouse 1609 ib

Etymology

Cawder Gill, Cawder Hall, Colder 1266MinAcct , Kalder 1314 Pat, Calder 1314 Ipm, 1366 Ch, 1561 WillY, Caldre 1327 Ipm, 1437 Whit 323, Cauder 1607 PRSk, Cawderhouse 1609 ib. It is sometimes described as a wood (1314 Pat, 1327 Ipm). This may be an old name of the stream in Calder Gill, as Ekwall RN 60 suggests. It would be of the same origin as the various R. Calders, a compound of Welsh  caled 'hard' and dwfr (Brit  dubrā) 'water' (v. R. Calder in RNs.).But it could be from cald and erg , meaning 'cold exposed shieling' or 'one offering protection from the cold', and though we might have expected traces of the spelling -ergh this el. was frequently reduced to -er by the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (cf. Golcar ii, 291supra , Cleator Cu 357, Salter ib 432). The latter seems on topographical grounds to be preferable.