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.

Clifton

Major Settlement in the Parish of Runcorn

Historical Forms

  • Clistune 1086 DB
  • Clistona 1150 Chest
  • Cliftona, Clifthona 1096–1101 Chest 1280 1163–90 ib
  • Clifton 1154–89 Orm2 17 Chol c.1190
  • Clifton in Halton l13 AddCh
  • Clifton now Rock-Savage 1672 Orm2
  • Clifton alias Rocksavage, Clifton or Rocksavage 1819 Orm2
  • Cliftun 1247 Chest
  • Cliftone 1295 Lacy
  • Clyfton 1282 Court 1599 Earw
  • Clyftona (in Haltonshire) 1310 Chest
  • Cliffeton 1496 Orm2
  • Clyffeton 1553 ib
  • Clufton 1325 Chol
  • Clefton 1534 Chol

Etymology

'Farm at a cliff', v. clif , tūn . The Clis - form is due to scribal substitution of st for ft , rather than to genitival composition. 'This town or place hath its name from the cliffs or broken rocks therein', 1666 Leycester (Orm2 i771). Cf. Rock Savage infra .

Places in the same Parish

Other OS name

Early-attested site