Re: Street Names
 

I think that Mark's suggestion that Newark St is named to refer to Steiner's trade with that American city is quite plausible. I cannot find my notes at this moment, and will come back to this when I have done. I am only aware of one street the name of which is definitely provable to be correct - Arnold St. A Mr Arnold was MP for Salford and in a speech he told how Jonathan Peel has promised to name a street after him "some twenty years ago"

Re: Street Names
 

The study and recording of Accrington's street names was started about 30 years ago I think - Atarah Hindle will know. Information on them is kept in a card file in the wooden cabinets below the front windows in the upstairs room of the library. It is rare to come across a new reason for an old street's name, but this has just happened in the case of Burton Road, which started as Burton Street around 1877. It is likely that the name was given by members of the Peel family , who owned lots of land off Burnley Rd,that it was so named to commemorate the moving of their 18th century ancestors from Accrington and Church to Buton on Trent to set up factories there as it offered better prospects for trade than their factories locally.
The Peel Society ( Google it) commemorates Sir Robert Peel and the rest of the Peel family in a museum in Burton, where there is a Peel St and a Peel House in the centre. I think it likely that the Accrington-based Peels would have gone to visit their relatives in Burton and feel some connection with the town and surrounding area.

Re: Street Names
 

There are many streets in the town which were named by the Peel family of Accrington house, owners of much land in the town in the 1800s. Most of them were chosen by the head of the family, Jonathan Peel, and many of them were named after members of his family - Robert, William, Bertha come to mind. I have long thought that Oswald St, not far from Accrington House, was another I thought was in that category. However, I have been informed by a living descendant of Jonathan that there have been no Oswalds in the family, and a search of the mid-century censuses failed to find any.

My digging has unearthed an MP who loyally served the Conservative party and Sir Robert Peel the PM. He was Alexander Oswald, MP for Ayrshire. Jonathan would be pally with his brother's colleagues in the Commons , and named several streets after them - Pitt, Melbourne, Wellington amongst them, also a Mr Arnold, MP for Salford, who let it be known in a speech made in Accrington that, some 20years before, Jonathan had told him that he intended to name a street after him
The Peels also owned land in Ossie and Rishton, where there are also Oswald Streets.

Re: Street Names
 

In the Plantation St - Cobham Rd area, there are Barnfield, Limefield, Garfield and Beaconsfield Streets all very close together. Presume FIELD means what it says, but havent been able to find how the other bits came about.

Re: Street Names
 

One Solved-
Garfield ▼ as a boys' name is of Old English origin, and the meaning of Garfield is "spear field". Surname and place name from Old English gâr "triangle", and feld "open country, field".

Re: Street Names
 

It seems likely that there is some link between all the 'field' names but there could be other explanations too. I cannot think of any other street names based on old English words. whereas there are streets named, as is Garfield, on American presidents (Washington & Grant)

Before the streets were laid out, around 1885, there was a fine house called 'Barnfield' occupied on the land by businessman Richard Parkinson. The land was owned by the Hargreaves family and is not far from their factory at Broad Oak. Before the factory, this was farmland and prhaps there was a barn there.

Beaconsfield is the name of a town in Buckinghamshire in which John Hargreaves owned an estate. The politician/MP Disraeli became 1st earl of Beaconsfield, so it is possible that John Hargreaves was honouring Dizzy, just as other landowners did.

Limefield appears to have no explanantion other than it ends in 'field'

Re: Street Names
 

[QUOTE=Bob Dobson;1255660]It seems likely that there is some link between all the 'field' names but there could be other explanations too. I cannot think of any other street names based on old English words. whereas there are streets named, as is Garfield, on American presidents (Washington & Grant)

Before the streets were laid out, around 1885, there was a fine house called 'Barnfield' occupied on the land by businessman Richard Parkinson. The land was owned by the Hargreaves family and is not far from their factory at Broad Oak. Before the factory, this was farmland and prhaps there was a barn there.

Beaconsfield is the name of a town in Buckinghamshire in which John Hargreaves owned an estate. The politician/MP Disraeli became 1st earl of Beaconsfield, so it is possible that John Hargreaves was honouring Dizzy, just as other landowners did.

Limefield appears to have no explanantion other than it ends in 'field'

It seems that my ancesters (could), have been landowners, ;);) Your's Taddy (Hadfield)