Clows Top
Early-attested site in the Parish of Bayton
Historical Forms
- Cluse 1275 SR
- Clouse 1294 Ipm
- la Clouse 1328 Ch
- Cloes 1448 BM
- Clowes Toppe 1663 QSR
Etymology
This is clearly, as Professor Zachrisson has pointed out to us, the OE clūse , which lies behind Clowes in Blean (K), Cluse in FA (1346), found also in the Wickhambreux charter (BCS 869) as Cluse , and in a lost atte Cluse in Warnham (Sx) in 1332.As a matter of fact the second form almost certainly refers to Clowes itself, for it is not one of the bounds of Wickhambreux but of one of the denns in Blean Wood which belonged to it. Cluse is named as one of the western boundaries and would fit in exactly with the site of Clowes Farm. Professor Zachrisson notes in addition the unidentified Shettinge (BCS 407), also near Canterbury, which seems to be the pure English equivalent (cf. PN in -ing 6) of this loan-word from Latin, which also denotes an 'enclosed place.' The other sense which this word has in OE, viz. 'narrow pass,' does not seem to suit the topography of either the Kentish or the Worcestershire place very well, though the cluse in this Wo case might possibly be the valley on the side of which Clows Fm stands.