the place-name 'shipley' derives from two words - the old english "scīp" ('sheep', a northumbrian dialect form, contrasting with the anglian dialect form "scēp" which underlies modern english "sheep") and "lēah" meaning either "a forest, wood, glade, clearing" or, later, "a pasture, meadow". it has therefore been variously defined as "forest clearing used for sheep" or "sheep field".