CROUCH

CROUCH. O. Eug. from Lat. crux— a cross. The word was applied in general to such crosses as stood at the intersection of two roads. These crosses were frequently dedicated to some saint and served also as direction posts — and although they have long disappeared, they have left the name of ' cross' and ' crouch' upon many localities, especially in the South of England. In Sussex, where the name is one of the oldest indigenous designations (especially in the Cinque Ports) it is found in the forms of Crouch and De Cruce, 20 Edw. I. Cooper's "Winchelsea. In the H.R. it is written Ad Crucem, and elsewhere At Crouch. Croucher and Crouchman are also derived from the same source.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.