Thank you very much, Georgie. Great to see these photographs!
Chris
---------- Post added at 04:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:31 AM ----------
Hi again Georgie
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In the matter of whether Otterspool ever had otters, or sturgeons or salmon in it... I am a bit doubtful. Okay I know that is the story. However, if say the name "Otterspool" actually derives from the name "Osklesbrock" and not from "Otter" that might argue that the idea that the stream was filled with otters is an old myth and the name originated in another way. It would appear to me that much of the old writing about name derivations is full of hypothesis.
We had a similar situation recently when we were talking about the possible derivation of the name "Penny Lane" which many people have claimed comes from slave captain and merchant James Penny. But near the corner of Greenbank Road and Smithdown Road there was a mansion called "Penketh Hall" which might have some relationship to nearby "Penny Lane." One scholar around 1900 claimed that "Penketh" was a name associated with "battle" but there is no proof that any battle took place in the area.
Here in the United States there is a stream in Baltimore County called "Bread and Cheese Creek." Local tradition maintains that the creek got its name from soldiers in the War of 1812 eating their rations of bread and cheese on the banks of the creek at the time of the Battle of North Point in 1814. The creek runs through the battlefield and both the American and British troops camped by the waterway. The truth though is that the name of the creek is older. My research shows that the name dates back to colonial times, at least as far back as 1737 when the name is mentioned in a land patent, so obviously it has
nothing to do with soldiers eating their sarnies on the riverbank in 1814!
Chris
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