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.

Cleaving Grange

Early-attested site in the Parish of Londesborough

Historical Forms

  • Cleuinde, Cleuinge 1086 DB
  • Cleving, Clevyng(e), Cleuing 13th YD 1204 Ass 1582 YD
  • Clyng 1376 Test

Etymology

Cleaving Grange is Cleuinde , Cleuinge 1086 DB, Cleving , Clevyng (e ), Cleuing 13th YD, 1204 Ass (p)et passim to 1582 YD, Clyng 1376 Test. This may be an old tribal name Clifungas , Cleofungas 'the cliff-dwellers,' from clif 'cliff, steep bank' and ing (cf. Ekwall, PN in -ing 92), but more probably it is simply an OE  derivative noun cliofung , cleofung 'cleft, fissure' applied to a small steep-sided valley which cuts into the Wolds at this point.The early substitution of ing for ung is common in late OE and ME (as in Coniston supra 47).

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site

Major Settlement