Abercromby Square is now pretty much just above where the K in 'MossLake' is printed on the map, and the reservoir shows the direction of the brook which ran off the fields, winding down by London Road to feed into the 'pool' from which the town got it's name.
I thought you nice people might like a map showing the area before the houses were built. The easiest reference points are Smithdown Lane and Lodge Lane on the right.
Abercromby Square is now pretty much just above where the K in 'MossLake' is printed on the map, and the reservoir shows the direction of the brook which ran off the fields, winding down by London Road to feed into the 'pool' from which the town got it's name.
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Not strictly research but I've just ordered The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn. Parts are set in Abercromby Square and St Catherine's I believe so I'll let you know how I get on!
Just wanted to say thanks to all at the Dylan Thomas Symposium in Cambridge last weekend. Really enjoyed the day and its re-ignited my interest in Ceri Richards' work.
For those who've been waiting, you can also now get John Goodby's 'Under the Spelling Wall' in paperback without re-mortgaging. Which is nice :-) Let's see how this worked. The last 2 week's posts were brought to you by the Weebly scheduled post feature. And the letter M and cookie monster.
Its also part of my attempts to leave some parts of my day free for the actual research, writing, and time consuming day-job. My own preferred explanation is far more prosaic. Well before the Norman invasion, there was some trade with Wales and Ireland from the area, at least at some points in the year, and a common Irish (and Gaelic) term for the sea was ‘Ler’. As late as Bowker’s 1572 conjectural map of Liverpool, the large tidal entrance, before you get to the ‘pool’ inlet that goes inland, is actually named as the ‘Sea Lake’, which is essentially just what it was, an open lake fed by the sea. ‘Lerpul’ or ‘Lerpwl’, two of the earliest spellings we know about, quite literally mean ‘sea lake’, or if you want to interpret what that means to a sailor, ‘tidal harbour’, nothing to do with a town.
One argument is that it is named after the local family the Levers (Leverpool), but as the name pre-dates the thirteenth century that one is out, another is that it means ‘pool of life’, which is a much later suggestion.
Two similar mythological roots suggested are that the town is named after either the mythical King Leir (as Leicester is said to be), who seems to have been a genuine King somewhere in Britain, possibly Northumbia, though no one is quite sure; or after the Welsh mythical figure Lyr, who’s children were turned into Swans, ( something that has been posited as an original of the Liver Bird). A problem with these and others is that the settlement was little more than a farming or fishing outpost of West Derby until King John created the town in the 1200s, and the name pre-dated that, so it is highly unlikely the name relates to a settlement at all. Two more are that it was ‘Lavapool’, after the seaweed lava which was very widespread as a foodstuff, or a corruption of ‘Elverpool’, after the large number of ells (elvers) the Mersey was known for in medieval times. An interesting theory which has gained a little traction recently uses the spelling given by King John, ‘Liverpul’, and suggests Anglo-Norman roots meaning the springtime harbour. This breaks down the word to come from ‘Li’ as ‘The’ , ‘Ver’ as ‘Springtime’ and ‘Pul’, short for Pulvenarium meaning means anchorage. Liverpul as ‘The Spring Harbour’. It’s a very interesting theory as Liverpool has a massive tidal range, and would indeed have proved a lovely base for ships during Spring/Autumn, but been impractical the rest of the year, which could also explain why no permanent settlement had been set up there. It was until ship design improved (and the docks were built) that the town really exploded. |
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