The tower and manor are located near the town of Radcliffe in Lancashire, England. Nicholas was often called Nicholas "de Radcliffe," meaning of or from Radcliffe because he lived near the town and owned the manor by that name. His children and other descendents were also called "de Radcliffe" and eventually the "de" was dropped. Thus our family has the distinction of being named after the manor and town in which our ancestor, Nicholas, lived. The town was named Radcliffe because it is located along the red banks (red cliffs) of the Irwell River.

My father, Clarence Ratcliff, who spent more thirty years studying the family genealogy, discovered the above details in his research. He also found about 30 different possible spellings of the family name. Why are there so many different spellings of the name? Clarence felt that most, if not all, of the variations are simply misspellings made by someone that eventually were accepted. My distant ancestor, Richard Ratcliff, who migrated from England, consistently spelled his name Ratcliff, a fact my father loved to point out. Perhaps the most accurate spelling of the name would be Redcliff, but I don't think anyone in the family spells it that way!