 The name may simply derive from the appearance of the unmetalled road up the hill, with deep cartwheel ruts scored into the red earth.Alternatively the name may mean Roe Hill or Roe Hollow, alluding to the roe deer which are still plentiful in the area.Some dictionaries give the name as deriving from Ragiol, a village featured in the Domesday Book of 1086; this however, seems more likely to be Regil or Ridgehill.