Clifton, once
Cliftone.
Clifton appears as Cliftone in the Domesday Book of 1086. More than nine centuries later, that early name provides the starting point for our own.
Clifton: historical overview ↗
OUR HERITAGE · CLIFTON, WEST YORKSHIREA name rooted
A name rooted
in Clifton’s history.
Cliftone Fold is a modern name inspired by a place with a long story.
Cliftone + Fold
Our name brings together an old spelling of Clifton and a word from rural life. It celebrates the history, farming character and landscape of the place we call home. Cliftone Fold is our new countryside-stays brand; it is not an original historic property or estate name.
Clifton, once
A name shaped
by the ground.
Clifton is generally understood as a settlement beside a cliff, bank or slope, combining Old English elements for a slope or bank and an enclosure or settlement. Here, we use that as a likely landscape meaning, rather than a claim about one particular cliff or building.
Fields with
their own names.
Clifton’s village history describes three arable areas: The Acres, East Field and Old Field. These names recall an agricultural landscape shaped by working land and shared cultivation. The Acres is also associated with traces of earlier strip farming.
Clifton Village: farming history ↗Why “Fold”?
Fold comes from Old English forms including falod, a livestock enclosure. The Yorkshire Historical Dictionary also records its use for a farmyard and groups of houses, with examples from Halifax and Huddersfield. It is a word that connects our new name to Yorkshire’s rural vocabulary.
Yorkshire Historical Dictionary: fold ↗The word’s Old English roots ↗HOLE BOTTOM FARM · OUR FAMILY CONNECTIONA real place.
MAP EVIDENCE · 1843 HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT LANDSCAPE INTERPRETATION
A real place.
A personal connection.
Our family business is based at Hole Bottom Farm, Clifton. That connection gives Cliftone Fold its personal starting point: a modern welcome grounded in a genuine local place-name.
Hole Bottom on the map
A published archaeological assessment identifies buildings at Hole Bottom on the first-edition Ordnance Survey map of 1843, Sheet 88. This documents the locality, rather than establishing the age of every building standing there today.
An earlier settlement
The same report suggests that settlement along Thornhills Beck Lane appears to have focused around “Holes Bottom” by at least the late eighteenth century. We retain the report’s cautious interpretation.
A hollow in the landscape
Low ground within a hollow is a probable landscape reading of Hole Bottom. We present this as an interpretation of the name, not a proven account of its first use.
Rooted here.
Ready to welcome you.
The Lodge is our current bookable accommodation at Cliftone Fold. Future stays can join it under the same name, each with its own character and the same connection to Clifton.
Explore The Lodge ↗Discover our future plans ↗