1) A word of French origin, meaning a large rock or a steep rocky place.
1637 very stately Timber ... & they grow out of such a Rocher of stone that you would hardly thinke there were earth enough to nourish the rootes, Sheffield
1675 Ann Wood ... by reason of a fall she had from a Rotcher ... hath been lame ever since, Wortley. It continued to be a meaningful term: 1647 stayed all day at the Rocher and got great stones out of the quarry there, Thurlstone
1651 James Sykes of Lingarthes for cutting wood in the Rotcher 3s 4d, Slaithwaite. It gave rise to a number of minor place-names and one early compound was the source of the surname Gaukroger: 1403 John de Gawkerocher, Halifax.