Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Clow(e)s crosse 1438,1528,1570 Imb

• le Clouse 1438 Sewers

• Clowsecrosse 1469 Pat

• Clow(e)crosse 1594 Camden

• Deposition, Clows Cross 1618 BedL

• Clough(s)crosse 1636 ib

Etymology

Cloughs Cross is Clow (e )s crosse 1438, 1528, 1570 Imb, le Clouse 1438Sewers , Clowsecrosse 1469 Pat, Clow (e )crosse ib., 1594 Camden, Clowes Crosse al. Shofftfenndike 1579 Deposition , Clows Cross 1618 BedL, Clough (s )crosse 1636 ib. v. NEDs. v. clow sb. where it is shown that clow is a false singular from clowes , regarded as a plural but really a singular, going back to OE  clūse , from Late Latin clusa , used in ME of a dam. Cf. mulne cluse c. 1225 Ancren Riwle, clowys c. 1440 Prompt Parv, clowe 1430 CathAngl. The form clough is probably an inverted spelling due to such parallels as plough , plow . It is commonly used of a sluice or floodgate and to the examples given in NED we may add “a clow …to prevent water passing from a pipe into Jeccon's gote” (1358 Imb 309), “one clow or one dam in the common sewer of Tyd” (1438 ib. 326). Near this clow stood a cross marking the boundary between Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. Cf. le Clowes juxta Trokenhold ubi alia Crux lapidea figitur (1597Wisbech Map , where the cross is marked). Because of its position as a boundary the stream was also known as “Clowse Crosse or Shiere Drane which divideth the Isle of Elie from Hollande” (1596 Fenland v, 68).