My maternal grandfather’s family came from Nutsford. I suspect it’s a contraction of Canutes Ford.
Could be!
My English Grandmother’s maiden name was Nutting. I researched the origin of the name and came across this:
This is a famous English surname, believed to be from Yorkshire, which is certainly where the first recording comes from. The style and spelling suggests that it may have an Olde English or Danish-Viking pre 7th century origin, and derive from the word “knut”, which literally means a hard fruit. To this has been added the term “inga”, normally used to indicated a people or tribe. “Knut” was used for many centuries as a baptismal or given name before the introduction of hereditary surnames, and can be found in a such a name as the famous “King Canute”.
The legend that this town name was supposed to be where King Canute crossed the Lily is bogus. He crossed a lot of rivers after all and there aren’t a lot of Nutsfords, are there?
No, the name Nutsford actually was a descriptive term for a ford on the river Lily that was almost waist deep.