26 History of the 



In regard to the opinion of ^Vhitaker, the historian of Man- 

 chester, that Irwell is a British name signifying " Western torrent." 

 Mr. H. Kerr, a well-known local antiquary, remarks, that "what- 

 ever it is in its lower reaches, the Irwell in its upper course at least, 

 is certainly a torrential stream, and has on many occasions proved 

 itself a most destructive torrent, as the inhabitants of Rossendale 

 know to their cost. The terrible flood of 1870, and the scarcely 

 less disastrous one in July, 188 1, are fresh in the memory of all 

 who dwell near its banks. The rapidity of the stream when in 

 flood may be estimated from the fact that within the limits of 

 Rossendale it has a fall of about 800 feet in a distance of some 

 eight miles." Mr. Kerr, however, inclines to the opinion of some 

 other authorities that the prefix "ere" or "ire" means simply 

 water, stream or river ; and that the same word in various forms 

 occurs in the designation of other rivers such as the Yure, the 

 Orwell, and the /^. 



The following is the account of the origin of the name, Irwell, in 

 " Mamecestre," edited by the late John Harland, F.S.A., (f) 

 "The Irwell. from Ir. (Welsh), fresh, vigorous; and G^rc//? (Welsh), 

 a name for river, as the Gwili in Carmarthenshire ; properly that 

 which turns or winds — a winding stream. In composition, ' gwili ' 

 loses the initial G." 



Other derivations have been suggested, as, for instance, that the 

 name may have reference to the Chief Justice in " Eyre " of the 

 Forest. 2. The Higher Well, afterwards changed to Ire\\€A, as 

 contradistinguished from the lower well ; the two together con- 

 stituting the " double fountain " spoken of by Mr. Whitaker, the 

 historian of Manchester. 3. The more poetical one, that it may 

 have been named after the fabulous nymph of Arcadia, " Hyrie," 

 who, it is said, in lamentation for the loss of her son, dissolved 

 into a fountain. Hypothetical as these are, any one of them, in 

 my judgment, is more probable than the derivation grven by Dr. 

 Whitaker. 



(/j Vol. i. p. 9. 



