Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Graycragg, Graycrage 1579 ib

• le Grai Cragge 1580 ib

Etymology

, 1669 Kend i, 307 , Graycragg , Graycrage 1579 ib 304, le Grai Cragge 1580 ib 158 , ' grey rock ' , v. grǣg 1 , cragge , here a hilltop with many rocky outcrops ; this name occurs elsewhere in We , and the equivalent compound Greystone is common ; usually the reference is to the colour of the limestone , but occasionally these names may , like Icel Grásteinn , refer to boundary stones ( cf. Franzen, LaxdON 127 ) , or , as Chr . Matras suggests in Early English and Norse Studies ( ed . A . Brown and P . Foote , London 1963 ) 143 note , the grey colour may indicate that the stone was a dwelling for supernatural creatures as in the Faroes .