57 



The street and district names afford abundant evidence of the 

 enlargement of our town, and its encroachment on the surround- 

 ing country. The names "The Park" and "The Meadows" 

 and the frequent occurrence of the word " Lane " remind us of 

 the country scenes amidst which our forefathers dwelt. The 

 fortunes which have attended the name " Burnley Lane " were 

 alluded to, and reference was then made to the former appropriate- 

 ness of such names as Croft, Healey Wood, Oak Mount, Crow 

 Nest. These and many other titles remain as memorials of the 

 period when most of the land now thickly studded with houses 

 and mills was park and pasture, farm and garden. 



The Rivers which intersect the town have given names to 

 Streets, and the reader suggested that Brown Street should be 

 strictly Brun Street, and Brown HiU, Brun Hill. Other street 

 names derived from the natural features of the place were men- 

 tioned, such as Bank Parade, HiU Top, Eakefoot, Sandygate. 



A large and interesting class is that in which the names owe 

 their origin to the owners of the land whereon the streets were 

 formed. By the aid of the Street Names one could roughly 

 parcel out the land covered by the town, and allot the divisions 

 to those who at one time or other owned them. Eecognized 

 upon our sign- boards are Hargreaves, Ormerod, Hamerton, 

 Halstead, Grimshawe, Curzou, &c. Some interesting particulars 

 were stated respecting many of the names of our landed gentry 

 found embodied in street appellations. 



The Church exercises an influence over street -nomenclature 

 and gives us our Church Street, St. Peter's Street, &c., and in 

 Eaws, Eobert, Mosley and Master Streets they had remembrances 

 of former clergy of the Parish Church. 



Mr. Grant next examined the names Parsonage Street and 

 Bankhouse Street, and here we quote the reader's remarks : 



" Something ought to be said respecting the title Parsonage 

 Street, even though it has been relegated to obscurity by the 

 Improvement Committee, — Curzon Street taking its place. The 

 street received its name from the old house — colloquially known 

 as " The Parsonage," though its correct name is " Bank House." 

 The street adjoining is called after it— Bankhouse Street. It 

 has been known as the Parsonage because some forty or fifty 

 years ago it was made the abode of Assistant Curates of the 

 Parish Church. Now the late Mr. T. T. Wilkinson, in his 

 "History of the Parochial Church of Burnley," and also in his 

 account of Benefactions to Burnley Church compiled for the 

 later editions of " Whitaker's History of Whalley," assumes that 

 this buildmg was the original Parsonage, and asserts that the 

 Rev. Eichard Kippax, incumbent, built the cross portion or front. 

 Let us briefly examuie this matter. About the year 1696 the 

 house which was the Parsonage {not Bank House) was given to 



