Viking Cleveland

                                                                
                                         Ancient  Cleveland   

                                                       

The area of north east England, named Cleveland was originally named by Viking raiders, the exact date of naming is not  known.  But most likely it was named during the earliest Viking visits to the north east shores of England. 

The first  raids by the Vikings on the north east coast are recorded in the  Anglo-Saxon Chronicle  as being 793 AD at Lindisfarne, the circumstances surrounding this early raid have in all probability been stretched far beyond the truth.
 In my mind  similar to the way the Wolf earned its bad reputation i.e.  it was only ever guilty of being what it was a wolf ! .  

My reason for mentioning the earliest recorded raid at Lindisfarne, is to show that the raid was long before the Vikings inhabited what we now know as York.  The Vikings occupied York   Jorvik  in 865 AD, after a large Danish Viking army had landed in East Anglia.

 Vikings were acquainted with the North East coast of England, and the land beyond ( Cleveland ) long before York was named after 865 AD , and almost certainly gave Cleveland its name during there earliest raids . 

   Cleveland as far as I can make out either translates land of rolling hills or Cliff land, I personally opt for the latter, but this is another jigsaw that needs solving.  Regardless of which translation is correct, it seems the Viking named area of ancient Cleveland,  must be far older than the English named area called Yorkshire .  Therefore making Cleveland possibly the oldest surviving Viking named area in England.

This map shows no reference to the North Riding of Yorkshire, but does title the ancient Cleveland area . 
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https://historyofabeck.blogspot.com/2018/03/cleveland-ohios-links-to-ancient.html