Electrical is a Wheatstone bridge after Charles Wheatstone who used it but didn't invent it (that was Christie).
Whet and wet are two completely different words, to whet means to sharpen.
Agreed. Comment was only to illustrate a point in nameing, from derivation through to corruption of words over time as spelling and pronounciation become blurred. Whet and Wet both sound the same. Perhaps I should have said something like 'Taylor' or 'Butcher' which could also indicate the trade or activity carrried out, or the surname of the person who it was named after, who would have probably derived his surname name in a similar manner sometime in the past.
My reference to the earliest known use of the 'Whetstone' name in Birkenhead is taken from Dodgson's study of the 'Place-names of Cheshire' and he seldom gets things wrong.
The Whetstone Meadow name dates back at least to 1824, and Dodgson makes no suggestion of the name ever having been corrupted or taken from that of a person.
For what it is worth there are Whetstones in other parts of the country, Cambridge, Midlands, Tottenham . Some suggestions that it could have been originally West Town.
Interesting that the tithe maps of 1836–51 show that at that time the quarry was not on Quarry Bank but was between Zetland Rd. and Borough Rd. and was quite small. Maybe it did produce stone for use as whetstones; it doesn't look big enough to be producing much building stone. I remember at school, in the woodworking shop, we had a big water-lubricated sandstone whetstone wheel.
Makes sense to me a quarry of Whetstone but not to sure what material they would be quarrying, a sandstone Whetstone wouldn't last 5 minutes and who would purchase when much harder wearing Whetstones were available.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
Maybe it depends on how far back we are talking. If the Whetstone site pre-dates the 1820's and the development of Birkenead docks etc, then maybe it was far easier to make use of locally sourced materials.
For what it's worth. Old English for 'whetston(e) used to be 'hwestan'. This would indicate the name has been around a long time. Maybe it was connected to the Priory.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect. ~Chief Seattle
From what I can recall I think a lot of the terraced houses in the Grange Road area had a back door step in the backyard that was used to sharpen knives etc. Not sure if it was sandstone
They were sandstone steps, also window sills etc and have seen grooves in many where that practice was carried out. I wouldn't say you can't edge a blade with sandstone, I know you can, just wouldn't last very long and I'm sure far better wearing materials were available even back then. If needs must and they had nothing else fair enough, but I could carve my name in sandstone far to easy when I was nowt but a lad.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
The conditions existing during the Glacial period : with an account of the glacial deposits in the valley between Tranmere and Oxton (1878) download pdf
There was once a pub called the Happy Vally ( There a picture on this site somewhere ) which stood on the oppsite side to birkenhead libary So maybe this give us some idea that there was a vally on borough road.
