Crick
Major Settlement in the Parish of Crick
Historical Forms
- Crec 1086 DB 1331 Cl
- Kreic 1201 Cur
- Creyk 1300 Ipm 1322 Ch 1330 Ass
- Creke 1284 FA 1385 Cl
- Criek(e) 1328,1391 Cl
- Creek(e) 1340 Ch 1343 Ipm 1583 FF
- Creake 1346 FA
- Kreke 1517 DBE
- Creke or Cricke 1598 Moulton
- Creek 1610 Camden
- Creeke al. Crick 1613 Recov
- Crieke 1618 FF
Etymology
This is a difficult name. From the point of view of form it would seem clearly to be the same name as Crayke (PN NRY 27).Half-a-mile north-west of Crick there is a prominent isolated hill of a pointed character, of a type that is exceptional in this county. It is possible that Crick takes its name from this hill, but it should be pointed out that there are two difficulties, (1) that, topographically, village and hill are not immediately adjacent, and (2) we have no reference to Crick Hill by name earlier than the 19th century, so that one cannot be certain whether the hill was not named from the village, rather than the village from the hill. The village is itself on a hill on a knob which forms part of a ridge, and it is possible that this knob may itself have given rise to the village name (but see further s. n. Crack's Hill infra ).
Similar forms are to be found for North and South Creake (Nf), but the topographical connection is less clear. They lie in the same river-valley, and though the ground round is somewhat broken, it is difficult to see from what hill or hills the places could be named. Ekwall (Scandinavians and Celts 105) notes what seems to be (from form and topography alike) another example of this hill-name in Blindcrake (Cu), which must be named from the prominent hill at the foot of which it stands. Different from these, at least on the topographical side, is the River Crake in Lancashire over the Sands, of which the early forms (RN 102) are in close agreement with those for the name just dealt with.The hill-names are certainly Celtic and allied to OW craig , 'rock.' The stream-name, as suggested by Lindkvist (loc. cit .) may be Scandinavian in origin, from a lost *kreik (cf. Lakeland dialectal creyke , 'nook or opening formed in the sand or marshes by the tide'), the root-idea being that of 'bend, nook, or narrow valley.' The Norfolk Creakes may take their name from the stream which joins them, but it is not a particularly winding one.The Crake on the other hand has a tortuous course.