The name Rawtenstall has been given two possible interpretations. The older is a combination of the Middle English "routen" ('to roar or bellow'), from the Old Norse "rauta" and the Old English stall 'pool in a river' (Ekwall 1922, 92). The second, more recent one, relates to Rawtenstall's identification as a cattle farm in 1324 and combines the Old English "ruh" 'rough' and "tun-stall" 'the site of a farm or cow-pasture', or possibly, 'buildings occupied when cattle were pastured on high ground'