MAIN CENTRES OF POPULATION 41 



tonnage dealt with at the harbour increased from 560 in 1850 to over 22,000 

 in 1875. The success of this venture led to the construction of a new dock 

 in 1877, and Fleetwood became the base for a fishing fleet of considerable 

 size. Vast quantities of hake, haddock, cod and flat fish are regularly landed 

 at the port by steam trawlers and smacks frequenting the North Sea and West 

 Irish coast. Another important industry is the culture of American oysters, 

 which are imported and fattened up for the market. The discovery of a 

 rock-salt bed at Preesall, two miles east of the port, was naturally of prime 

 importance to the fishing trade. In addition, the brine is now conveyed by 

 pipes to the town to serve the United Alkali Company's works set up in 1 885 

 to produce ammonia soda. The works utilize 3,000 tons per week, while the 

 main centres of the Company at Widnes, St. Helens and Glasgow have been 

 supplied with rock salt from Preesall since 1894. Since the foundation of the 

 port the population has increased rapidly. Attaining 15,000 at the beginning 

 of this century, it exceeded 25,000 in 1921. In spite of these commercial 

 aspects, Fleetwood has continued to attract an increasing number of holiday- 

 makers, and this activity, more and more, is shaping the character of the 

 Fylde seaboard. 



IX. 



THE PLACE NAMES OF THE FYLDE 



BY 



EILERT EKWALL, 

 Professor of English, Lund University, Sweden. 



In the present brief survey the Fylde is taken in a slightly wider sense than 

 usual, and to embrace the flat distiict west of the main road from Preston to 

 Cockerham, that is, the parishes of Kirkham (western part), Lytham, Bispham, 

 Poulton-le-Fylde, St. Michael-on-Wyre, and parts of Preston, Lancaster and 

 Garstang. The name The Fylde is from Old English gefilde, ' plain ' ; it 

 also enters into the names Poulton-le-Fylde and Fieldplumpton (formerly 

 Fildeplumpton and the like). 



Place-names embody important historical material, and those of the Fylde 

 bear remarkable witness to the varied racial history of the district, more varied 

 than that of most parts of England, or even of Lancashire. 



There is a remarkably strong sub-stratum of British names. Wyre, 

 Cocker, Savick (Brook), perhaps Pilling are old British river-names. 

 Wyre may be identical with Gaulish Vigora, while Cocker comes from an old 

 adjective meaning ' winding.' British river-names are common all over 

 England, but what is remarkable about the Fylde is that so many villages or 

 hamlets have wholly or partly British names. 



