Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Road Names

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

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

Most of the roads in Leasowe are named after explorers...
Shackleton, Raleigh, Frobisher, Hudson, twickenham, livingstone etc

Writers/Poets in Seacombe .Milton Rd ..Byron Rd ..Shakespeare Rd
Places? Geneva Rd...Naples Rd, ..Lucerne Rd.

Good one Yoller, gets very boring though. I read a bit, some interesting history. I`ll read more tomorrow when I`m more awake.

Cheers for the book link Yoller, that's helpful to me

some names of Birkenhead streets and maybe other areas click

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.

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

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.

i also know some on the leasowe are named after naval men such as Drake

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.

Here's comprehensive explanation of DeGrouchy CLICKY