Radclive's toponym is derived from the Old English for "red cliff", referring to the colour of the local soil and a cliff overlooking the river. The Domesday Book of 1086 records the village as Radeclive.
The Manor House was built in about 1620 and is the remaining part of a much larger mansion. The house contains an original oak staircase which has an open balustrade with finial topped ovals and lozenges, very similar in design to the staircase at Princes Risborough Manor House.
That portion of Radclive south of the River Ouse once formed the "lost" Domesday manor of Hasley, formerly thought erroneously to have formed part of Thornton.[2]