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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Alan Weston

Liverpool's famous street names and how they got them

Some of Liverpool's street names - such as Penny Lane and Scotland Road - are world famous.

But what is less well known is that within the names themselves is a wealth of history - whether it's a reference to prominent figures from the past, a reminder of long-vanished industries, or the commemoration of historical events.

Clarence Street, Clayton Square, Lime Street, Utting Avenue, Bold Street and Huskisson Street are just some of the many street names that help to uncover stories from Liverpool's sometimes dark past.

READ MORE: BBC The Responder: Scouse words and sayings and what they actually mean

Here are just some of the stories behind Liverpool's well-known or unusual street names.

Penny Lane, L18

The street made famous by The Beatles became the subject of controversy a couple of years ago at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests.

This was because of the long-held tradition that the street was named after Liverpool slave ship owner and anti-abolitionist James Penny. It was also included in a display about Liverpool street names linked to the slave trade at the International Slavery Museum at the Albert Dock.

This led to the road signs on Penny Lane being defaced and covered in graffiti.

But historians have now questioned whether Penny Lane has any connection to James Penny at all.

One suggestion is that it was named after a group of fields called Penkeths - meaning "edge of the wood" - and was originally known as "Pennies Lane."

Another is that it referred to a toll once charged to use the thoroughfare.

Brunswick Road

(Between Islington and West Derby Road)

In the early 19th century, Caroline of Brunswick was the popular wife of the rather less popular King George IV.

Folklore has it that Brunswick Road came by its name when a painter repainting street signs left his work, only to return and find Brunswick Place chalked on by a supporter of the Queen.

Thinking it was official, he copied it. "Place" later became "Road."

Falkner Street/Falkner Square

Both Falkner Street and Falkner Square in the Georgian Quarter were named after Edward Falkner. He was a soldier and the Sheriff of Lancashire who - so the story goes - mustered 1,000 men in one hour to defend Liverpool in 1797 when a French invasion threatened.

The Square dates from 1835 and was one of the first open public spaces. But many of the houses remained vacant as potential buyers feared the houses would sink into the marshy ground on which they were built. It was also unpopular because it was so far outside of town.

As a result, locals nicknamed the square Falkner's Folly, which eventually became Falkner Square.

Clarence Street

The Duke of Clarence – who became King William IV – campaigned against the abolition of slavery. Widely travelled, he spent a lot of time in the House of Lords where he was a controversial speaker.

He visited Liverpool in 1790 when Clarence Street was being laid and the naming was a measure of his popularity here at that time, when the city made huge profits from its links to this abominable trade.

Clayton Square

Clayton Square, Liverpool. (Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

One of the few places to be named after a woman. Sarah Clayton became a captain of industry in the mid-18th century, taking over her merchant father Alderman William Clayton's business with her mother after his death, when it was unheard of for women to do so.

She was known as a formidable businesswoman and merged the family coal business with her brother-in-law's, meaning she presided over a considerable area of mines situated near to the Sankey Canal and became one of the most important coal dealers in Liverpool.

In 1752 she mapped out a landmark in her family name - Clayton Square - and occupied the largest house in the square.

Lime Street

Liverpool's Lime Street Station (PA)

One of Liverpool's main thoroughfares was originally known as Limekiln Lane. Where the railway station is now, back in the 18th century there were lime kilns used to produce quicklime.

They had to be taken down when doctors from the Infirmary across the street complained that fumes being emitted were detrimental to their patients.

The kilns were moved, but the name stuck and was given to the railway station built on the road in 1851.

Utting Avenue

Professor Sir John Utting was Mayor of Liverpool from 1917-18, the first Professor of Anaesthetics at Liverpool University and Liverpool's chief medical officer.

He was also Liverpool Football Club's first club doctor. Both Utting Avenue, and Utting Avenue East, were named in recognition of his work.

The Goree

The Goree Warehouses, built in 1793, were named after a slave embarkation island off Senegal, West Africa.

The warehouses were built 11 years after the courts ruled that every slave became free as soon as their feet touched English soil.

The buildings were demolished in 1958 following extensive bomb damage in World War Two. Their site is now part of the Strand, which was widened in the 1960s as part of an ambitious scheme for an inner motorway around the city centre.

The only part to have been built was from Leeds Street to Parliament Street.

There is an old belief that iron hoops in the walls were used to chain up African slaves, but this is a myth.

Commutation Row

The road owed its name to a dispute between its inhabitants and the Inland Revenue. In the days of the window tax (introduced in 1696), residents had to pay tax on each individual pane of glass they owned.

But the residents of this particular Liverpool road came up with a cunning method to evade the tax, making the few window panes they had as large as possible, to reduce their outgoings.

The row with the Inland Revenue was only resolved by means of an agreement known as a "commutation".

Commutation Row as it looks today (Street view)

The old Victorian buildings on this road - close to William Brown Street - have now been torn down and replaced by an office block.

Welsh streets

The Welsh Streets, Toxteth. Photo by Colin Lane (Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

Welsh builders came to Liverpool in the 19th century, which resulted in a lot of Welsh names. The most famous are a group of late 19th century Victorian terraced streets in Toxteth, named after Welsh villages and landmarks.

A set of streets off County Road are also part of the Welsh influence on the city - some of them sit just a stone's throw away from Goodison Park.

Welsh builders Owen Elias and his son, William Owen Elias used the first initials of their names in a set of 22 streets in Walton.

The roads, which all still exist, are: Oxton, Winslow, Eton, Neston, Andrew, Nimrod, Dane, Wilburn, Ismay, Lind, Lowell, Index, Arnot, Makin, Olney, Weldon, Euston, Nixon, Elton, Liston, Imrie and Astor streets.

Bold Street

Named after Jonas Bold, who leased land from the Corporation on which St Luke's Church and a ropery owned by James and Jonathon Brookes were built.

Exchange Flags

Exchange Flags in Liverpool city centre (Dan Longman)

This was the name given to the area by the Town Hall on which, until commodity exchanges were built, merchants gathered to transact their business.

Huskisson Street

The name commemorates William Huskisson, MP who was killed at the official opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830.

Scotland Road

One of Liverpool's turnpike roads, it led to Preston via Walton, Burscough and Maghull. Stage coaches from Liverpool followed this route through Lancaster and Kendal to Scotland.

The road later became famous as the childhood home of Cilla Black.

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