Many
place names, and their elements are confusing, contradictory and unclear.
As we've seen, 'léah' can mean both wood and clearing in a wood,
'tún' is a homestead, farm, village, or estate', 'port' can mean
port, market or gate, 'holmr' can mean island, or raised land in a marsh.
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That
might seem to explain Rusholme but this is said to be 'risc + um'
(dative plural), place at the rushes. Rochdale appears straightforward:
Roch is the river and dale is the valley it flows through, but it's not
as simple as that: Rochdale comes from Recedham - 'homestead with
a hall', and over time, the m changed to l. To confuse matters further,
the river Roch may have its origins in a Celtic word meaning 'opposite
the wood' *rac or *ceto (the asterisk means the word has not been found
in writing and is assumed to have existed), the wood being Rossendale,
another name marked 'etymology doubtful' but thought to be 'ros' moor
and 'dale', valley. But maybe it's from ross, i.e. russet or red, the
colour of the trees - Who knows? |
Rusholme
Rochdale
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Another
perplexing one is Stockport, where I grew up. A port 40 miles from
the sea, near the stocks perhaps? According to one explanation, Stockport
is the 'market place at the outlying settlement' 'stoc' 'outlying settlement'
and 'port' 'market'. Another says it's the 'monastery town', and yet another
I saw as a child goes back to an earlier form, seen on on old maps, 'Stopford'
- 'place where you stop at the ford'. Who's right? |
Stockport market place
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Streets,
bridges, houses and forts provide clearer explanations, e.g Stretford
- 'street', i.e. Roman street, 'on a ford', the ford across the River
Mersey. Trafford is from the same origin, but without the 's' and
the 't'. Stalybridge is the 'slaef léah brycg', the 'bridge
by the wood whence the staves are procured'. Salford is the ford
by the willow trees, and Manchester is, of course, the roman fort
'chester' named 'Mammucium', a Celtic origin word cognate with 'mamma',
mother or breast, hence 'breast-shaped hill. The breast-shaped hill overlooked
the confuence of the Medlock and Irwell, now Castlefield, and is obscured
by canals, railway viaducts buildings and streets, so frustratingly, I
can't compare how it might have looked with the real thing. Mancunio is
apparenty a mis-spelling, but is used to describe people from this city,
Mancunians. It's also used in the Irish Gaelic name for Manchester,
Mancuin. |
Stretford
Reconstructed Roman Fort of Mammucium
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Eccles
is of Celtic origin, and means 'church'. The Celtic language borrowed
from Latin 'ecclesia' giving Welsh 'eglwys' and Irish 'eaglas'. Other
ecclesiastical place names include Prestwich - 'wic' farmstead
of the priests. Prestolee is the 'léah' clearing, belonging
to Priestall or hall of the priests. Prestbury, in Cheshire, is
the 'burh' or fortification of the priests, Chadkirk, the chapel
near Stockport is the church of Chad. There are many examples of 'chapel'
in place names, including Chapeltown, 'town of the chapel' and
Chapel-en-le-Frith in Derbyshire 'chapel in the sparse woodland'.
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Eccles
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The
vast majority of local place names are pre-medieval in origin, but there
are a few which date from more recent times. While places ening with '-ton'
tend to be older, places ending in 'town' tend to be of much later origin
such as Earlestown, near Warrington, built around the wagon works
of the Liverpool to Manchester railway, and named after Sir Hardman Earle,
director of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway Company. Boothstown
appears also to be a later creation, though I'm not sure of the identity
of Booth - can anyone help? |
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Edgar Wood Centre Victoria Park
In the city, new
names have been created, for example Victoria Park, created in
the 1830's as an enclosed residential district between Rusholme and
Longsight. Even now after 150 years, it hasn't quite established itself
to the extent of the much older neighbouring names and people erroneously
talk about Edgar Wood Centre in 'Longsight', or the Manchester Central
Mosque in 'Rusholme'.
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Manchester Central Mosque Victoria Park
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Chorlton-on-Medlock
was once a town in its own right to the south of Manchester township
- now Manchester University, MMU and UMIST have encroached on its territory,
it's been rebuilt as an area of council housing, and High Street, once
its bustling town centre, is no longer a focal point, and has been renamed
Hathersage Road.
The
east Manchester districts of Bradford, Beswick, Holt Town and Openshaw
lost much of their character with the death of the engineering industries,
and are now often referred to as Eastlands - a name only a couple
of letters away from 'wasteland', with connotations of emptiness and
industrial decay. Let's hope the Commonwealth Games bring life and prosperity
to this area again.
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Silkin Court flats Chorlton-on-Medlock
Old & new signs next to the River Medlock
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In the 1980's, the former Manchester Docks became Salford Quays,
now a futuristic business, residential and cultural district linked to
the city centre by an ultra-modern tram system. |
New Metrolink tram station Salford Quays
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In
the city centre, old district names have died and new ones coined - Exchange,
once used for the area around the old Cotton Exchange, was once a railway
station, a telephone exchange and a destination on buses. When the monstrous
Arndale Centre was opened in the 1970's, Arndale took over as a
city centre bus destination. The bus station closed after the bomb in
1996. |
Arndale Centre Market Street
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The
most recent place name appear on city centre maps is the Northern Quarter,
which refers to the old trading district north and east of Market Street
and Piccadilly. The Gay Village, also known as The Village
has emerged from the old warehouse district along Canal Street. Chinatown
has taken over the area behind Piccadilly between Portland St and Mosley
St, which was to have been demolished and redeveloped Piccadilly-Plaza-style
in the 1960's. |
View over the Northern Quarter
The (Gay) Village
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The
very latest coining of a new district name is Peter's Fields, seen
on Manchester City Council parking signs and presumably the idea of someone
in the Town Hall. The name alludes to the 1817 massacre of demonstrators,
and denotes the area around the Free Trade Hall, G-Mex (formerly Central
Station) and the Bridgewater Hall. Churches have given their names to
city districts, such St Georges, next to Hulme, Trinity
in Salford, and All Saints, just south of the city centre. |
Trinity Bridge
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