[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Bob Dobson

Back to the reasons for streets being called what they are :- Can anyone come up with why Lydia St is so called? I think I have the answer, but want to consult before declaring it

Marsden St is said to be named after a local family.(1870s) Do we know owt about 'em?

I read an intersting statistic recently - Between 1850 and 1856 there were 62 new streets laid out in Accrington.

Just checked my 1863 map, it shows the layout for over 70 new streets, most of them are named, including Lydia St & Marsden St.
Those houses in those 70 odd streets weren't built untill the 1890's & 1900's, so who did decide the names for the streets, 20 years or so before the houses were actually built. By the time they were built, the reason for naming could have been long forgotten
The only sure way is old estate plans, which would show the land owners, (very few of those plans still exist).
A lot of the new streets are on what today would be called Green Belt land, as such there would only be a few owners, so trying to give them the names of relatives of those land owners, it just guessing.
I only believe in documentary evidence, I once tried at the clown hall legal offices, they were really unhelpfull.

Some of the street names shown on the map were never used.

Retlaw.