Oldest Part Of Accrington! - Page 2

Gobsmacked · 06-03-2005, 22:59

Accra? Inga? First I've heard of that. If Inga was his Christian name wouldn't that have made the town "Ingaccraton" ?

WillowTheWhisp · 07-03-2005, 07:21

Here's another variation on the ring of oaks version.

http://www.lancslinks.org.uk/linksco...nity/hyndburn/

Accrington Accrington is the main town of the Borough of Hyndburn named after the river which flows through a culvert beneath the Victorian shopping arcade. The name derives from the Old English words 'æcern' & 'tun' meaning where acorns are found. The first recorded use of the name was prior to 1194 when it was recorded as 'Akarinton' by 1277 it had become 'Acrinton' and by 1311 had become 'Ackryngton' much as it is pronounced today. The town is located some 5 miles east of Blackburn and is synonymous with brickmaking.

No mention of any Saxon Lord called Inga there. In fact in the 'g' doesn't seem to have come into the name until 1311. The old English æcern and tun seems more than plausible to me.

Acrylic-bob · 07-03-2005, 08:37

Given that the whole of the Ribble Valley and Calder Valley were covered in northern deciduous woodland it might be expected that oak trees were not exactly in such short supply that places where they grew would need to be recorded by a specific place name. The use of the latin dipthong "AE" is not known in the Celtic, Saxon or later Anglo-Saxon English language prior to the Norman Conquest. In any case it is properly pronounced "eye" as in Kaiser, which together with Tsar are local corruptions of the Roman clan name Caesar which later develops into the generic term for the Emperors of Rome. It is also important to bear in mind that when dealing with a language which was seldom written, the sound of a word is more important than how it is spelt or mis-spelt.

The Saxon element TUN or TON describes a place of human settlement, not a general area of woodland. Following this logic is it reasonable to assume that the first parts of the word Accrington describe the owner or settler. This is even more pertinent when you consider the location, which is amply supplied with fresh running water.

If you are still not convinced look carefully at the the way the word develops from your first example to your last and imagine a similar process working in the opposite direction, 1194 back to 700 rather than 1194 to 1311.

Acrylic-bob · 07-03-2005, 12:45

I have this from a Stoke on Trent based website...

"Tun is dated from around 750-950. In its original sense (i.e. where huts were built together within a stockade for protection), it soon became the commonest of all place name elements, often containing the name of the Anglo-Saxon chief or the name of the tribe who built it.

For example ....ington denotes the homestead of the people of ... So that Winnington near Mucklestone means "the homestead of Winna's people."

WillowTheWhisp · 07-03-2005, 13:40

That website doesn't say the dipthong is celtic. It says it's old English which could mean any number of things. How old is old?

The "ington" in its entirety meaning "homestead of" makes more sense than "Inga" being the Christian name of some Saxon Lord.

I could imagine a process of name change from 1194 back 700 years but I could be totally wrong. I'd love to be able to find some written evidence of what the town was known as prior to 1194, if there was actually anything here with that name. I know it wouldn't be anything like a town

Acrylic-bob · 07-03-2005, 16:08

Old English is the language of Chaucer, so Norman-ish to Tudor approx?

Aker-ington = Homestead of the people of Aker? (or Akka.) Either way the first part is someones name and the second part describes the place.

Retlaw · 07-03-2005, 20:27

Willow what made you pick a date of 1194. There are records of a settlement in Acca Ingas Tun well before that date.

Retlaw.

Retlaw · 07-03-2005, 20:31

While we are on the subject of Accrington and its name, how many of you know why there was an Old and New Accrington till 1878.

Retlaw.

WillowTheWhisp · 07-03-2005, 21:08

I know there was old and new Accrington because I've seen it on old maps.

I didn't pick the date of 1194 myself. It was the earliest date mentioned on that website I found. I presume they must have taken it from some written record or map dating from that year.

I would love to see maps or records from earlier dates.

kestrelx · 08-03-2005, 12:54

Some interesting stuff here - someone told me that "Acca" was latin for Oak but checking my latin online dictionary it doesn't...

http://cawley.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bi...em=acca&ending=

Acca Larentia [a Roman goddess]; Larentalia or Accalia -ium , n. pl., [her festival at Rome in December].

WillowTheWhisp · 08-03-2005, 13:09

You mean we could actually be named after a Roman goddess?

Gobsmacked · 10-03-2005, 00:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acrylic-bob

Given that the whole of the Ribble Valley and Calder Valley were covered in northern deciduous woodland it might be expected that oak trees were not exactly in such short supply that places where they grew would need to be recorded by a specific place name.

Oakleigh? Oak Street? Oakhill Park? Need I elaborate?

kestrelx · 12-03-2005, 12:46

Are there many Goddesses in Acca Town ? - I think the nearest the Roman's got to that area was Ribchester? It's interesting how these names develop from Acca?Acker to Accrington, the irony is that England comes from the word Angles and the Angles came from over the sea from what ironically is now Germany. So Angleland - becomes England?

gazlivy · 13-07-2006, 22:50

=WillowTheWhisp] hy willow the whisp intrested in the liveseys n clegs i was born in hapton n my ancesters are liveseys n clegs from huncote

WillowTheWhisp · 14-07-2006, 19:00

We might be related gazlivy! My maternal grandmother was Mary Lydia Livesey. She was married to Stanley Marsh Cook who came from Norfolk, worked on the railway. They lived in Castle Street. He died in 1957. She continued to live there for about another 8 years. They had 2 sons and 4 daughters. one of whom was my mother. One of the daughters, Myrra, died as a young woman and is buried in St Margaret's churchyard along with my grandparents.

We lived in Wood Street until I was 4. Whereabouts in Hapton did you live?