Carrion Crow - OE crawe - ON kraka

The Old English name for Corvus corone is clearly the root of modern day ‘crow’. The same can be said for the other members of the Corvus genus, whose modern names likewise map easily onto Old English, giving the impression that medieval people named crow species according with the same Linnean taxonomic fixity as we do today. Caution is needed, however. There is nothing to say that the old names weren’t employed in the same way as their modern counterparts, but it is unlikely that they were exclusively or mainly used in this way. Folk taxonomies (out of which a great many of our bird names developed) don’t work in the same was as scientific categorisations. Many people even today wouldn’t know the difference between the four widespread Corvus foursome (raven, carrion crow, rook and jackdaw) and would use ‘crow’ generically, as, in fact, the name is used scientifically to describe Corvidae (the crow family). The Old English names are inconsistently used in what written evidence there is, and therefore, as Eric Lacey has argued, ‘it seems reasonable to suppose that the Old English terms had fluid meanings in a manner not unlike folk-names, and that a variety of factors, ranging from dialect to the context, contributed to whether a speaker referred to a large Corvidae as one or the other’.

This principle may well have applied to old names for other birds too, but the crows are an especially useful example in this respect because the identification of name and species seems straightforward in their case. All this is not to say that early uses of bird names were not nuanced and precise in their own ways, or that our ancestors couldn’t tell the difference between a raven or a rook; it’s rather that they worked with different criteria, and that categorisations in themselves were less rigid.

Whatever the case, Old English crawe (to whatever species or group of different, assembled species, that name might refer to in a specific instance) is present in a great many place-names. If you include modern names (i.e., those for which there are no early records), Crow Wood, in fact, probably qualifies as the best represented of all avian place-names in England, even more so than crane names. There is no Old English Crawood (crawe + wudu), but there are lots of Crawleys (‘crow wood or wooded clearing’).

A great many more Crow place-names could be added to the list below, because there are lots with much later dating (mostly 19th cen.), but, in keeping with the website as a whole, names after 1500 are not listed.

Crackpot (Yorks)

Cracoe (Yorks)

Craike Hill (Yorks)

Crake Dikes (Yorks)

Crakeford (Norf)

Crakehall (Yorks) [See also crakes and rails for this name.]

Crakehill (Yorks)

Crakemarsh (Staff) [See also crakes and rails for this name.]

Crakemoor (Yorks)

Crakenhou (lost, Yorks)

Crakethorn (Yorks)

Cralle Place (ESsx)

Cranage (Ches)

Cranmere Pool (Dev)

Cranham (GLond)

Cranhill (lost, Wilts)

Cranoe (Leic)

Craster (Northumb)

Crawcrook (T&W)

Crawenhall (lost, Warks)

(Husborne) Crawley (Beds)

(North) Crawley (Bucks)

Crawley (Dev)

Crawley (Esx)

Crawley (Hants)

Crawley (Northumb)

Crawley (Oxon)

Crawley (WSusx)

Crawley Down (WSsx)

Crawley Green (Beds)

Crawley End (Esx)

Crawleyside (Durham)

Crawl Side (lost, Yorks)

Crawshaw (Lancs)

Crashaw (Yorks)

Crawshawbooth (Lancs)

Crawshaw Hey (Yorks)

Craycombe Hill (Worcs)

Creacombe (Dev)

Crealake (lost, Dev)

(South) Creaber (Dev)

Crebor (lost, Dev)

Creely Barton (Dev)

Crelake (lost, Dev)

Creyford (lost, Dev)

Croakham (lost, Dev)

Crollode (lost, Cambs)

Cromer (Herts)

Cromer (Norf)

Cromer Hyde (Herts)

Crowallsike (lost, Yorks)

Crowborough (ESusx)

Crowborough (Staff)

Crowbury (lost, Herefordshire)

Crowcombe (Som)

Crowcombe Pill (lost, Glos)

Crowden (Ches)

Crowden (Derbs)

Crowden (Dev)

Crowfield (Glos)

Crowfield (Northants)

Crow Hill (Esx)

Crow Hill Shaw Farm (Yorks)

Crowholt (Ches)

Crowhurst Farm (ESsx)

Crowhurst (Surrey)

Crowhurst Bridge Farm (ESsx)

Crowley (Ches)

Crowlink (ESsx)

Crowmarsh Gifford (Oxon)

Crowsnest (lost, Dev)

Crowneast, originally Crownest (Worcs)

Crowney Wood (Esx)

Crowthorne (lost, Glos)

Crowthorpe (Northants)

Crowton (Ches)

Crowell (Oxon)

Croydon (Cambs)

Croydon (Som)

Field names: Crakeberg, Asby (Cumb), Crowmore, Bradley (Staff), Crowmore, Castle Church (Staff), Crowelles moore, Bradley (Staff), Crow olre, Brewood (Staff), Crawmeresham, Hope Bowdler (Shrop), Crakeþornfurlong, Barrow (Rut), Crowellemore, Shipton on Cherwell (Oxon), Crowethorn, South Stoke (Oxon), Crousloue, South Stoke (Oxon), Crowehulle, South Stoke (Oxon), Crawethornefurlonge, Stoke Talmage (Oxon), Crowemere, Coltishall (Norf),
Crakesloth, Cawston (Norf), Crowbeck, Worstead (Norf), Crowebrigge, Swafield (Norf), Graumor, Lawpress (Lincs), Crowmore, Lawpress (Lincs), Craumorhil, Lawpress (Lincs), Blackecorneil, Lawpress (Lincs), North/Middle Crackthorn/South Crackthorn, Aslacoe (Lincs), Crake Deal, Manley (Lincs), Crake dale, Manley (Lincs), Crauthorn, Manley (Lincs), Crake Deal, Manley (Lincs), Crauthorn, Manley (Lincs), Krakethornhilmare, Bradley (Lincs), Crakhou, Walshcroft (Lincs), Crakedale, Walshcroft (Lincs), Cracheberg, Yarborough (Lincs), Krachewell, Yarborough (Lincs), Crakemar, Yarborough (Lincs), Crowethornhul, Knighton (Leics), Crowethorne, Bitteswell (Leics), Crowethorn hyll, Great Bowden (Leics), Crakergate, Galby (Leics), Crowthornis, Burton Overy (Leics), Crathornehull, Billesdon (Leics), Crawell, Croxton Kerrial (Leics), crouthorn, Bottesford (Leics), Crowepen, Stinchcombe (Glos), Crowmede, Twigworth (Glos), Crawcrok, Norton (Co Dur), crauthorn denes, Wolviston (Co Dur), Crowell, Wolviston (Co Dur), Crawemere, Billingham (Co Dur), pasture de boundes des deux croftes autour Crowenest, Abbostbury (Dor), Wibbancrowe, Buckland Newton (Dor), Greweforlong, Bincombe (Dor), Crowehay, Winfrith Newburgh (Dor), Nethercrowdoles, Normanton (Derbs), Crowecroftmilne, Shirland and Higham (Derbs), Craudale, Scarcliffe (Derbs), Crowneste rode, Baslow (Derbs), le Ouer Crowethorn, Bromborough (Ches), Crowegraue, Elton (Ches), Le Cronerydyng, Weaverham (Ches), le Crekeshurst, Plumley (Ches), le Crouweholre, Prestbury (Ches), Croweputtes, West Hanney (Berks), Croweye, Steventon (Berks), Craule, Clewer (Berks)

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