It's All Different Now...

Recently, i have been looking in to street and place names and how they have changed over time. I have looked at 2 really interesting books; one named 'It's All Different Now...Some Manchester memories' and the other 'Origins of Street Names in the City Centre of Manchester,' both published around 1985.

But what first got me interested in the history of street names was a blog post i found on the British Genealogy website after searching for names found on buildings in the Northern Quarter. This rather passionate, opinionated 'grumpy old man' (his words, not mine!) made some very good points about our sense of identity in a city such as Manchester. He says, "I'm sure Manchester is not the only city set on the wholesale destruction of traditional place and street names." He then lists examples of some lovely street names that have changed to universal names, i think making us lose a sense of belonging and individuality.

From this very interesting research i then went on to look at the books, which gave me a much better understanding of why the old street names were named as the were over 150 years ago!
One particular favourite of mine was 'Daub Holes', the land now occupied by Piccadilly Gardens. Daub in fact means clay which underlay this plot of land. The daub was dug up as it was a very good building material, leaving holes which the Manchester rain quickly filled.

From this research, the idea of filling a hole or an empty space with water really appeals to me. I have noticed that Hotspur has this cyclical process of water entering the building due to rain wearing away the fabric or the outside and becoming rotten and rusty; but then water is also leaving the building due to sinks and other forms of water disposal. The introduction of clay (daub) could also lead to some really interesting samples, hopefully pushing this idea further!