Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Bollerclo(u)gh 1461,1462 MinAcct

• Bulderclo(u)gh(e) 1486 WCR1 1492 MinAcct 1600 WCR4d 1771 M

• Bouldreclough, Boulderclough 1492 MinAcct 1817 M

• Bolder-clogh 1686 SbCA

Etymology

Boulder Clough, Bollerclo (u )gh 1461, 1462MinAcct , Bulderclo (u )gh (e )1486WCR 1, 1492MinAcct , 1600WCR 4d, 1771 M, Bouldreclough , Boulderclough 1492MinAcct , 1817 M, Bolder-clogh 1686 SbCA.The first el. is e.ModE  boulder 'a rounded stone' (first recorded in 1611, NED s.v.); the word occurs in the ME  compound bulder-ston , which because of its Danelaw provenance has been associated with Swed  dial. bullersten 'a large stone in a stream' (so called because of the rumbling noise it makes in the water, cf. Swed  bullra 'to roar').There is a difficulty over the forms as the Scand word would be expected to yield ME  butter , which does not occur independently; the oldest spellings of this p.n., however, have the correct ME form, and the -d - in later forms is intrusive, as in ME  alder from OE  alor, etc. (Jordan § 202). 'Boulder valley', v. clōh .