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Birmingham Place Name Origins

jennyann

jennyann

Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
Edit. This thread covers place name origins. There is also a thread covering street names here: https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/street-name-origins.38459/

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I found this website fascinating and I couldn't find that it had been posted before in the Forum Search Engine. It's contents are about the naming of all the suburban areas in Birmingham and the main streets within them.
https://billdargue.jimdo.com/
 
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Jennyann :) Excellent posting,, Very interesting & informative site,,
Thanks,, i the same as Frothblower,, not seen this site before,, Cheers JohnY:cool:
 
This pertains to Bills new site and is an upgrade from is old site which was first brought to Rod's attention in the early years of the web ring, as you will find it is a very informative site and he as to be congratulated on it's content it as been a link on the Aston site for many years


Hi John Houghton & Rod Birch, I wonder if you'd be good enought to put a link to my new website on Aston Brook Through Aston Manor. As John will know there are one or two of his postcards on the site from the BHWF, fully attributed of course. I havce returned the compliment by including your site as one of my Top Ten links! Regards, Bill Dargue
Here's a blurb, unless you can think of somethign more concise

A History of Birmingham Places & Placenames . . . from A to Y​


at billdargue.jimdo.com​

From Acoks Green to the Yenton, from Ashstead to Gyrdleahe, from Hasfurlong to Yorks Wood, here is the story of Birmingham's places and placenames from AtoY. William Dargue tells the fascinating story of Birmingham's placenames. Many districts still bear the name given by the Anglo-Saxons a thousand years ago - and some are older still. The author explains the origin and meaning of Birmingham's placenames and delves into the history of each locality. There are suggested sights to see, some well-known landmarks, some unexpected surprises, and many of them illustrated. Also here are brief historical overviews of placenames and of the City. A glossary explains unfamiliar terms and gives local examples and there is an extensive annotated list of weblinks.
 
Spot on Lloyd - perhaps Maureen had some particular street names in mind, I have some knowledge on the origin of place names and wouldn't mind taking a stab at a name or three (not all of Birmingham yet though!).

Lichfield has three different spellings for the same place in one road (and it is only fifty yards long!) - Laburnum House (correct spelling) is in Laburnum Close, however the roadsigns insist it is Laburnam at one end and Laburnham at the other.
 
We are right out of Brum history now. but the classic street name is Letsby Avenue, an airport approach road (I believe Manchester) which has only one building (a police station) on it.
Peter
 
Carl Chinn has 5 volumes of his street names - last one was end of last year.

Probably out print are 2 books by Joseph McKenna, published by Birmingham Libraries 1986 / 1988
Birmingham Street names & Birmingham Place names.

Both good - copies should be in the Referance Library & also in the Pen Room Museum, Frederick St. (5 mins from Key Hill - plug, plug !)
 
From: https://www.brindleyplace.com/history-2/the-squares/

"The word Oozells
There are numerous suggestions relating to the derivation of the word Oozells. No one knows the correct derivation, but here are some theories:
1) It was on land once owned by Miss Colmore. She sold off the land to pay gambling debts to a French refugee called Oozell;
2) Oozells was possibly the name of a builder or owner of land. This was suggested by a reader to a newspaper in 1934;
3) Oozells Farms may have been on the land, but no map appears to confirm this;
4) Oozells may have meant ‘high houses’ built in sandstone ridge on Broad Street;
5) ‘Lozells’ meaning low houses;
6) Oozells is a corruption of Ousel. An Ousel cock was once a common name for a blackbird; Blackbirds congregated and sang in the hedgerows;
7)The area may have belonged to a family known as Odingsell or Oddinseles. The Oddinseles once possessed a number of manors in the Midlands."
 
I couldn't believe it when I looked at the map of present day Hockley. Its like being a stranger in your own city. Very sad.
 
Thanks for the information Lloyd.

I'm still smiling at your story in the old "Maypole Shopping Centre" thread from years back. The one about the chinese restaurant.

It sounds impossible looking at Brum today but up until I joined the army, I'd only ever seen two black men, (in the flesh). They were the Dr Bikitsha, that you mentioned and another, who lived a stone's throw away, Dr Clarke.
 
The recently discontinued thread oh Heaths, does suggest that some places were named because of the barren heath land that once existed in certain places and the types of vegetation that grew there. Then there are the bogs such as could found at places such as Moseley and the areas of grassland, as opposed to that in the centre of a village. Could Cheswick Green be named to explain a grassy area. Then there are those places that include "Hayes" which seems to relate to a plot of land. Pype Hayes could an example.
 
I have just looked up Cheswick in my dictionary of place names and it means a farm where cheese is made. Could there have been a dairy farm there?
 
Thanks for that, Mort. The photos of the places with tower blocks look very far removed from those largely Saxon & Norman names. :)

Maurice :cool:
 
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