Many people have asked why the roads were so called in Walkden. Most of the names like Dagmar Street relate to the people who more or less owned Walkden the Egerton and Ellesmere families. Here is an extract from Elsie and Frank Mullineauxs book. They are relatives on my wifes side of the family so I feel free to share without breaching copy right. Elsie I am sure would not mind she was passionate about sharing the history of Walkden: Streets Less noble names whlch deserve explanatlon have been given to streets at various times including Gilbert Street, Brindley Street, Fereday Street, Smith Street, Southern Street, Walker Street, Longley Road, Lansdale Street, Forrester Street, Beesley Green, Priestley Road, Atkin Street, Gibb Street, Thorpe Street, Pennington Street, Lyon Street, Shiel Street,, Holyoake Road, Starkie Street., Hirst Avenue and Gorton Grove. The last two are obviously more recent since “avenues “ and “groves” became fashionable at a later date than streets and roads. John Gilbert was the overall manager of the Worsley estates of the Duke of Bridgewater and of the coal mines and the canal. James Brindley was the consultant engineer on canal construction. Fereday Smith, James Sothern (notice the change of spelling to Southern) and Walter Longley Bourke were supertntendent trustees of the Bridgewater Trust. Walter Street and Longley Road meet near to the old GPO sortlng offlce opposite the site where stood the Bridgewater Offices. There is no Bourke Street, the name was not commemorated because there was trouble in Ireland at the time concerning a man of that name, not to mention Burke and Hare the Edinburgh murderers. Mrs Walter Longley Bourke switched on the clock on the Bridgewater Offices so that it struck thirteen at one o’clock for the first time on January lst, 1901. The clock was erected for the beneflt of the people of Walkden by the Bridgevater Trustees to commemorate the beginning of the twentieth century and the anticipated ending of the Bridgewater Trust in 1903. Robert Lansdale had been a chief agent of that trust and was a highly respected Worsley man. Rlchard Forrester was a lesser employee of the trust who hacl some smalI authority. He lived at Roe Green and it’s told that he “thrigged about” in the evening driving other peoples geese and cattle off the green in order to put his own and so he got the name of Dicky Thrlgg. Beesley was the name of a famlly who were tenants of a farm at the western end of Roe Green at the end of the slxteenth century and their name has amazlngly Iingered on. Atktn and Gtbb owned cotton mllls situated in the streets that acquired thelr names. Thorpe was a manufacturer of oilcloth and linoleum at Hlll Top while the Pennington brothers were mineral water manufacturers next to the now demolished Trinity Chapel, commemorated in Trinity Crescent. James Marsh kept a grocer’s shop on Manchester Road at the corner of the street that bears hls name. The owner of the houses gave his name to Lyon Street at Roe Green now changed to Lyon Grove. Similarly James and Peter Shiel named a street after themselves when they built houses in the vlcinity of Cecil Street. These brothers built the flrst catholic church in Llttle Hulton. It was blown down in a high wind before it came into use but the houses that they built still stand. John Jacob Holyoake was a pioneer of he co-operative movement and his name was glven to Holyoake Road, formerly Kay Street off Walkden Road, when the Walkden Co-operatiive Society developed extenslve warehouses, milk distributlon centre, bakery and botanic brewery there. Hirst end Gorton were local counclllors. Nicholas Starkie and his descendants owned Kempnough Hall and land for more than two hundred years. Prlor to that the Parr family held the Kempnough estate and they are commemorated in Parrfield Road off Greenleach Lane at Roe Green where Toad Lane used to be.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 11:27:21 +0000
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