Evidence of early settlement in the Ecclesfield area include remnants of Romano-British settlements and field systems in Greno Wood. The earliest known written record of Ecclesfield is from the "Domesday Book" of 1086, where it is referred to as "Eclesfeld". The meaning of the name is uncertain. Traditionally it has been derived from the Celtic "egles", meaning a church, specifically a Romano-British one, and the Old English "feld", meaning a woodland clearing. Thus the name could mean "Open land near a Romano-British Christian church". However, an alternative suggestion is that the first element "eccles-" derives from a Saxon personal name or an association with water.