Manchester Listed #1 - What Does Your Town Name Mean
So I've collected a local list of the meanings of our town names. Some of them were pretty self explanatory, the others however I think you may like...so let's show you the list...
Accrington – Ring of acorn trees around the town
Alderley Edge - Aldred's Clearing
Altrincham - Homestead of Aldhere's people
Ashton Under Lyne – Ash tree town under the line of the Pennines
Atherton - Farmstead or village of a man named Aethelhere
Blackburn – Bleach stream
Blackley – Dark wood
Bolton - Settlement with a special building
Breightmet – Bright meadow
Bury – Castle
Chadderton – Place among the hills
Cheadle – Chads Hill
Cheadle Hulme – Chads Hill … with water meadow
Chorlton-cum-Hardy - Ceolfrith's farm by the woods
Congleton – Settlement with bend
Crumpsall - Crooked piece of land beside a river
Darwen – Oak near river
Denton – Valley town
Didsbury - A man known as Dyddi whose stronghold or township it was on a low cliff
Dukinfield – Open land of the ducks
Eccles – Site of recognisable building
Failsworth – Enclosure with special kind of fence
Farnworth – Fern enclosure
Gorton – Dirty farmstead
Hale – Shelter
Hale Barns – Shelter near the Old Tithe Barn
Heywood – Animal closure in wood
Hindley - Clearing frequented by hinds or does
Horwich – Place at the grey Wych-Elm
Hyde – A measure of land for taxation purposes
Leigh – Glade
Little Lever – Small place where the rushes grow
Littleborough – Small fortified place
Macclesfield – Maccel’s field
Middleton – Middle settlement
Milnrow – Mill with a row of houses
Moston – Marshy town
Moss Side – Great moss
Newton Heath – New town on the heath
Oldham – Old village
Prestbury – Priests town
Prestwich – Priests farm
Radcliffe – Red cliff
Ramsbottom – Rams valley
Reddish – Reedy ditch
Rochdale – Hall of the River Roch
Royton – Rye town
Rusholme – Rushes in meadow
Shaw – Wood
Sale – Sallow tree
Salford – Ford by the willow trees
Stalybridge - Wood where the staves are got
Stockport – Market place at hamlet
Stretford – Street on a ford
Swinton – Swine town
Tottington – Tota’s village people
Urmston – Orme’s Easton
Walkden – Wealca’s valley
Whitefield – Wheat fields
Wigan – Village
Wilmslow – Mound of a man called Wighelm
Worsley – Cleared place which was settled
Wythenshawe – Withy tree
