Slads The word slad or slade (applied in my neighbourhood
to an offshoot of Grirruns Dyke) has enjoyed as wide a vogue as the rarer, and more difficult, slype. The discussion on the meaning may be concluded with two comments, one from Gloucestershire, one from Berkshire. The Gloucester view is
the more orthodox :
" The word appears to have a double meaning in Gloucester- shire. There is the valley or ravine that you mention, but in many places the spurs of land, for the most part rough grass slopes, not unlike upland pastures or small Alps, that jut out from the Cotswold Edge and divide the valleys that run down into the Severn Vale, are also known as. " slads ' or " slades." Barns in one or two places on the crests of these spurs of land are known by this name."
The Berkshire view is of another sort : " A field on the out- skirts of Eton is called Slads, which Canon Shepherd's Old Days of Eton Parish interpreted as the water slades—i.e., the
channel by which the floods slide away—this explains its position, whether slide has the same root or not. The word slad is also used for a wood on a hillside, stagnant water or boggy land, piece of greensward in ploughed land, &c
(English Dialect Dictionary), hence surnames slade and green slade.
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