Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Creu 1086 DB

• Crewe 1297 Cre

• Criwa c.1150 Orm2

• Crue 1220–40 1586 ChRR

• Cruwe 1290to1472 ChRR

• Cruue, Crwe 1288to1572 ChRR

• Crwue, Cure, le Crue 1398 ChRR

• Crue juxta Weston 1314 Orm2

• Crue juxta Haselynton 1337 Plea

• Crue juxta Bertumley 1440 ChRR

• Crowe 1330,1391 MidCh 1351 BPR

Etymology

'The fish-trap, the weir', from PrWelsh  *criu, Welsh cryw, glossed in EPN 1 118 s.v. cryw 'a ford', corrected in JEPN 1 46 s.v. *criu 'a weir'. This el. also appears in Crewe 326infra and possibly in Crewood, Crufaughis (Frodsham) 195, 227infra . Professor Jackson and Professor Richards point out that the fundamental meaning of cryw is probably 'basket', whence it seems to have been extended to the kind of wicker-work woven fence across a river to catch fish, hence the meaning 'weir'. But it occurs in NW p.ns. in the sense 'stepping- stones', whence the idea that cryw means 'ford'. That cryw does not primarily mean 'ford' is indicated by the p.n. Rhyd-cryw in Llanegryn, Merionethshire, 'ford of the weir' (v. rhyd , rid EPN 2 82, 83, JEPN 1 50). Nevertheless, it seems likely that a structure such as a fish-weir might often have been built near a convenient ford, or that the structure itself might have offered a means of crossing the stream in which it stood. The meaning 'stepping-stones' probably developed from a row of large stones used to reinforce a wicker-work weir. The fish-weir from which this township took its name was, presumably, on Valley Brook or Englesea Brook at Crewe Bridge infra , or perhaps at Stowford 76infra . The modern borough of Crewe takes its name from this township.