Clowne
Major Settlement in the Parish of Clowne
Historical Forms
- (æt) Clune c.1002 ASWills c.1100
- Clune 1086 DB 1222,1240 FF 1266 Darley 1316 Ch
- Cloune 1269 FineR 1291 Ch 1317 HarlCh 1319 RadCh 16th
- Clowne 1535 Val 1545 AddCh
Etymology
The place takes its name from the river which rises close by and from which the lost Clowne and Clumber (PN Nt 104, 106) are also named. It is said (l.c. and Ekwall, RN 89) that Clun must have been another name for the R. Poulter but this can only be partly true. The Poulter rises near Palterton infra 295, and that name may be a back-formation from the p.n. though this is by no means certain since its history is obscure. It is clear that the Poulter was a tributary of the Clun , though after their confluence the former is the modern name. The course of the Clun is from Clowne to the Db-Nt boundary at Creswell Crags, then north-easterly, where it is known as Millwood Brook to its confluence with Walling Brook, then following the south-easterly direction of the latter through Welbeck Park to join or be joined by the Poulter, which flows in a general north-easterly direction from Db. That the latter is the tributary river is indicated by the fact that Clumber is downstream from the confluence of the two.It seems likely therefore that both are early names for rivers and that only after Clun was lost did the river in Nt become known as the Poulter.
The name itself is from Brit *Colaunā, PrW *Colūn perhaps with some general meaning 'water, river', v. Jackson 308–9. Cf. Clun (Sa), and Cown Edge Rocks supra 151.