Forest of Rossendale. 27 



There can be so little of certainty in any investigations con- 

 cerning the origin of the name ; and so much room for doubt and 

 contention, seeing that the materials for forming an opinion are 

 scarce and inadequate, that I have no desire to dogmatise on the 

 subject, or unnecessarily to dispute the conclusions of previous 

 writers thereon. These, however, are so unsatisfactory, that I 

 hope to be excused for stating an impression which I entertain, 

 that the name is, after all, one which has been handed down to us 

 from our earliest British ancestors. I am fully sensible of the 

 deficiencies of the argument, and it is with some diffidence that 

 I advance it at all ; but it is not less plausible than those already 

 put forward, and it may serve to awaken a degree of interest on a 

 subject which, perhaps, has not received the attention it deserves. 



" Eire is the name of one of the ancient Celtic deities, who is 

 commemorated in such words as Aldeire (Auldearn,) Stratheire 

 (Strathdearn and Strathearn.) This word is probably also the 

 origin of the name Eire for Ireland ; and not larinn, as generally 

 supposed." {a) In the Green at Glasgow there is a celebrated well 

 or spring, popularly known to the inhabitants as Eirn's, or Aim's 

 Well, which, no doubt, has reference to the same mythical deity. 

 Is it too much to suppose that Ire in Irewell, or Irwell, is from the 

 like source ? • 



But again, in the charter of Roger de Lacy, in which the first 

 mention of the river occurs, the name is not spelt Irwell or Irewell, 

 but Iretvill. In the Celtic language, Uillt, pronounced wW, or 

 7vilt (the / at the end of the word having the liquefied sound of iia 

 in Christian), is a mountain stream — a brook — a river. The 

 conclusion, then, to which we are naturally led is — First, that we 

 are not necessarily indebted to its source for the name of the river. 

 It is by no means essential that we should trace a stream to its rise 

 in order to arrive at the origin of its name. Secondly, that the 

 prefix Ir, or Ire, has reference to the ancient British deity of that 

 name. Thirdly, that will (Uillt), is the Celtic word for stream. It 



{a) Celtic Gleanings, by the Rev. T. M'Laughlin, A.M., F.S.A.S., p. 130. 



