What’s In A Name?
Street name origins can be a fascinating subject! Have you ever wondered where your street name originated? In the following post we share our research into the origin of a street called Elgy Road in Gosforth. We are delighted to be able to add to this with some of the street names relating to Kenton Park.
When researching the history or a property it is interesting to consider the significance of a property or street name. You may find for example that the name has some link to a former building that stood on the site – Ashburton Road is named after the Ashburton Estate.We have referred to this in an earlier post about our research into the history of the Elgy Road property. A street name may have some association with the builder or developer or be related to its geographical situation. However, we have found some interesting examples that you probably won’t have thought about!
Street Name Origins of Elgy Road Gosforth
Elgy Road is an unusual street name but we believe that we may have discovered its origins. Mackenzie’s Historical Account of Newcastle upon Tyne of 1827 contains a number of references to Elge or Elgy of Gosford. We have listed the references below:
Year 1170
In 1170 Robert Lisle, son of Otwell, married a daughter of Richard de Canville, and obtained a grant of his fathers’ South Gosforth estate. The superior lord, Walter Fitz William, sanctioned the transfer, which included “the church and the mill, and all liberties to the land belonging in, in wood and plain, meadow and pasture, road and path &c” Prior John of Hexham, Walter Lisle, Hugh Lisle and Elge de Gosford witnessed this deed, and King Henry II by a charter dated 1198 confirmed it.
Year 1248
In 1248 Elge de Gosford mentioned with reference to the rebuilding of the Tyne Bridge. He was witness to a deed where by the church granted indulgences to all who assisted in repairing it.
Year 1250
In 1250 an inquisition after the death of Otwell Lisle stated that he held Gosforth as “heir of Elgy, son of John.”
Elge of Gosford
The timespan of the references suggests that there was more than one person called Elge of Gosford, possibly generations of the same family. Research in this period is difficult. Survival of records is patchy and handwriting is difficult but we intend to try and discover more about Elge/Elgy.
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Kenton Park
Original Name For Kenton Park Streets
Kenton Park was built on land owned by the Montagu family who were extensive landowners and coal owners in Northumberland. In the 1920s James Fountayne Montagu sold off land on which the original Kenton Park streets were built.
James Fountayne Montagu, the son of James Wilson Montagu and Laura Adeline (nee Thellusson) was born in 1887. He inherited his Northumberland landholdings from his childless uncle, Andrew Fountayne Wilson Montagu.
Andrew Montagu was born Andrew Fountayne Wilson in 1815, he was the son of Richard Fountayne Wilson and his wife Sophia (nee Osbaldeston).
In 1826 Andrew’s name was legally changed to Andrew Fountayne Wilson Montagu by Royal Licence, in order to allow the inheritance of further lands. In these family relationships we can see the origins of the names of the original streets on Kenton Park – Montagu Avenue, Wilson Gardens, Osbaldeston Gardens and Adeline Gardens.
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Years ago I went on a guided walk around Gosforth. The guide told us that the area know for nannies and their charges was called Titty Bottle Corner rather than park. As for the stream which is culverted from Dukes Moor under the GNR; when I was a child it flowed in a steep, wooded valley along the northern edge of Lodore Road crossing the ends of Albemarle and Kingswood Avenues (where I lived) and Newlands Road. When the valley was cleared and infilled, we were told it was to have houses built on it. Happily, that never happened.
It has been suggested that the name Gosforth comes from Goose Ford- maybe related to crossing the stream which goes down the back gardens of Moor Crescent to Tittiebottle Park and across & down to Jesmond Dene ( now culverted but my Dad said as kids they used to shortcut down to the Dene that way- till 2 boys were drowned in the culvert