Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Crocheham 1086 DB 1167 P

• Crokeham 1170 ib

• Crokeham, Crokam 1517 DInc

• Crocham 1156 P 1415 Fine

• Croukham 1228 BM 1344 Cl

• Crookham (Heath) 1713 PubLibDoc 1761 Rocque

Etymology

Probably a compound of crōc 'crook' with hām . Crookham Ho and hamlet are a mile apart, and it is not clear where the original nucleus of the settlement lay, but both places are on a ridge, the north and south edges of which are marked by narrow indentations.Crookham has previously (DEPN, Elements 1, 113) been considered to contain crōh2 'nook, corner', which might have been held to refer to these gullies. The forms given above, however, definitely suggest OE  Crōc -, and the identification of Crookham with croh hamme in the bounds of Brimpton (which lies behind the derivation from crōh 2 ) should probably be rejected, v. Pt 3. The charter-name is over a mile from Crookham hamlet, and even further from Crookham Ho, and the spellings for Crookham are inconsistent with an OE  form Crōh -. The R. Enborne, which flows immediately south of the Crookham ridge, is marked by a striking series of small, sharp bends in this stretch, and these could have been referred to as 'crooks'.The first el. could be in the gen. pl. Crookham Ha (DEPN) may be identical with Crookham Berks.