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Posted By: inatimate1 Road Names - 28th May 2014 9:33pm
Ok guys, going to attempt to compile myself a big reference list here of the roads of the Wirral, and where the names have originated from. There's a lot of them out there, but I'm sure a fair few of them have a fascinating story behind them that people are unaware of, especially when it gets to the more obscure newer built roads which are named after certain people/places.

I want to try and find as many road name origins as possible. So help from you all will be much appreciated. Whether its something quite trivial, such as a road being called "Church Road" because "St Bridget's Church" is on it, something historical, like "Carr Lane" being from the Old Norse for "Marsh or bog". Something a set of roads share in common, such as there's a few off Reeds Lane, Leasowe, all named after racecourses, ie. "Epsom Road" "Newbury Way" "Aintree Close" etc... or roads named after specific people, eg. "Laird Street" named after John Laird, anything and everything would be helpful in getting this together to try and build a history of our road names.

Please feel free to share any known origins of names of local roads and the town/village where they are, Jay smile
Posted By: inatimate1 Re: Road Names - 28th May 2014 9:50pm
For a bit of an idea of what I mean, check about halfway down the page...

http://www.wirralhistory.net/wallasey.html

There's a bit of a list there for a fair few road names in Wallasey
Posted By: bazzoh Re: Road Names - 28th May 2014 10:32pm
Most of the roads in Leasowe are named after explorers...
Shackleton, Raleigh, Frobisher, Hudson, twickenham, livingstone etc
Posted By: torryman Re: Road Names - 28th May 2014 10:49pm
Writers/Poets in Seacombe .Milton Rd ..Byron Rd ..Shakespeare Rd
Places? Geneva Rd...Naples Rd, ..Lucerne Rd.
Posted By: yoller Re: Road Names - 28th May 2014 11:35pm
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Name...corr&keywords=street+names+of+wirral
Posted By: ZipperClub Re: Road Names - 29th May 2014 12:24am
Good one Yoller, gets very boring though. I read a bit, some interesting history. I`ll read more tomorrow when I`m more awake.
Posted By: inatimate1 Re: Road Names - 29th May 2014 6:54am
Cheers for the book link Yoller, that's helpful to me smile
Posted By: derekdwc Re: Road Names - 29th May 2014 8:55am
some names of Birkenhead streets and maybe other areas click
Posted By: Greenwood Re: Road Names - 29th May 2014 6:13pm
The road names on the Whitelands Meadow estate between Upton and Greasby were sourced from old tithe maps, so I've been told. The RAF estate at the other end of Greasby has roads named after RAF bases - Hendon, Kinloss etc.
Posted By: inatimate1 Re: Road Names - 29th May 2014 8:32pm
Ahhh, fantastic stuff Greenwood!

Had a quick flick through that Street Names book at Moreton library today, quite a bit of fascinating stuff in there, but couldn't find the mention for DeGruchy Street in West Kirby, which I've read about somewhere else, or Valentia Road in Hoylake being after a family name.

The site is great Derek, just a shame it only has Wallasey & Birkenhead, but at least all the streets for the big challenges are there for me.

I think with smaller towns like Hoylake the road names do tell a lot about the history of the town as well, but in quite a few things I read they can go largely unmentioned, when a lot of them can give away a fair bit of knowledge about the place.


Keep them coming guys smile
Posted By: AR_One Re: Road Names - 29th May 2014 9:15pm
Ok from where I used to live in Bidston:

Eleanor road was named after the wife of one of the Earl's of Shrewsbury (also Shrewsbury road in Oxton) as that family used to own big chunks of Oxton / Bidston.

The roads off the end of Eleanor are all Cricket related:

Statham road - Bob Statham ex England batsman
Brierly close - Mike Brierly - 1970s England captain
Lords and Edgebaston close after cricket grounds.

A couple of others that I know of:

Lever Causeway = was built by the Lever family
Acrefield road (Prenton) was around a one Acre Field when it was laid out
Posted By: chriskay Re: Road Names - 29th May 2014 9:44pm
Originally Posted by AR_One
Ok from where I used to live in Bidston:

Eleanor road was named after the wife of one of the Earl's of Shrewsbury (also Shrewsbury road in Oxton) as that family used to own big chunks of Oxton / Bidston.

The roads off the end of Eleanor are all Cricket related:

Statham road - Bob Statham ex England batsman
Brierly close - Mike Brierly - 1970s England captain
Lords and Edgebaston close after cricket grounds.

A couple of others that I know of:

Lever Causeway = was built by the Lever family
Acrefield road (Prenton) was around a one Acre Field when it was laid out


Couple of corrections to your cricket theme:
Brian Statham was an England fast bowler
Its Mike Brearley
There's no "e" in Edgbaston.
You're right about the connection between Oxton and the Earls of Shrewsbury; many roads in the area have connections with the family. The family name is Talbot, later Chetwynd Talbot after which those roads are named. Also, Alton Rd., Ingestre Rd., named for family estates.

The names of the roads on the Tranmere Hall Estate, built about 1926, were named after mountains/hills and moutaineers:
Ingleborough, Malvern, Snowdon, Ben Nevis, Everest, Mallory, Irvine.
Then there's the Mount estate; more hills: Mendip, Cotswold, Clee Hill, Brecon, Chiltern, Pennine, Cheviot.
Posted By: firestone Re: Road Names - 31st May 2014 9:54pm
i also know some on the leasowe are named after naval men such as Drake
Posted By: 335steve Re: Road Names - 5th Jun 2014 1:02pm
Kings Lane and Kings Road, Bebington -named after family called King who owned the land and lived in Kings Hall -now a housing estate adjoining Kings Road.
I understand that Linkside(off Kings Road)was named as it was near a Golf Course between Town Lane and Kings Lane.
Posted By: diggingdeeper Re: Road Names - 7th Jun 2015 10:54am
Here's comprehensive explanation of DeGrouchy CLICKY
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