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.

Radclive

Major Settlement in the Parish of Radclive

Historical Forms

  • Radeclive 1086 DB
  • Redeclive 1314 Ch
  • Radeclife 1362 New
  • Radeclef 1385 Pat
  • Raclyff 1526 LS
  • Ratcliff 1537 LP 1590 New 1755 BW
  • Ratclyffe 1542 LP
  • Ratley 1675 Ogilby
  • Radcliff c.1825 O

Etymology

OE  rēadan clife (dat.), 'red cliff' above the Ouse. v. read , clif .For d > t before c , cf. Ratcliff (Mx). Final f is often lost, as in [jakli] for Aycliffe (Du). Cf. also Ratley in Speed's map for Ratcliffe (So). 'The soil all round the village has under certain aspects a distinctly reddish hue' (Harman).

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site