Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Tunnocliffe Hy3 Hlm

• Thundercliffe 1535 1828 Langd

• Thunerclife Grange 1670 PRWath

• Senecliff 1535 VE

• Scenocliffe Grange 1542 WillY

• Synecliffe Grange 1557 ib

• Synoclyffe Grondge 1571 Hlm

Etymology

Thundercliffe Grange (lost), 1817 M, Tunnocliffe Hy 3 Hlm 448, Thundercliffe 1535 ib, 1828 Langd, Thunerclife Grange 1670 PRWath, also known as Senecliff 1535 VE, Scenocliffe Grange 1542 WillY, Synecliffe Grange 1557 ib, Synoclyffe Grondge 1571 Hlm 437. This was a grange of Kirkstead Abbey, near the hill where the monks had iron-workings. On the history of the grange and its site v. T. W. Hall in SheffMan ii, 220 ff. This grange was pulled down c. 1777 and replaced (across the stream in Kimberworth) by The Grange (188supra ). Thundercliffe is unlikely to represent an early ME  th ' under cliff (as that adj. use of under is not found in early p.ns.); it is therefore doubtless OE  þunor 'thunder' (the form Tunnocliffe is not from a very reliable source), alluding to the noise of the forges. The first el. of Senecliff might be scēne 'bright', but if spellings of that type are erratic, they could be taken to stand for Sindercliff , 'cinder bank' (v. sinder , clif ), from the cinders from the forges; there are many old shafts and scoriae in the district.