An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St.Helens

Part 26 (of 58) - Sutton Streets and Placenames

Appendices: Sutton Street Name Changes; A to Z of Sutton Streets | Streets Photo-Album

Researched & Written by Stephen Wainwright ©MMXI Contact Me

Header image: A stretch of Junction Lane in Sutton with shops photographed around 1910

a) Marshalls Cross Road in Sutton

Marshalls Cross Road, Sutton, St.Helens
Marshalls Cross Road cottages which were demolished in the mid-60s - contributed by Sutton Historic Society

Marshalls Cross Road and Peasley Cross Road were so-named because, many years ago, roadside crosses were placed on well-travelled highways so that travellers could stop and pray for their safe journey. 'Marshall' is a word of German-French origin that means 'Master of the Horse' and it came to denote the local farrier. So it's likely that there was a blacksmith or farrier on the route who looked after the shoeing of the horses that passed through it. 'Peasley' refers to the position of the cross and is derived from the Old English words pese or pease.

The north-south route along the present Marshalls Cross Road probably goes back earlier than Roman times. It formed a crossroads with the road between Warrington and Ormskirk/Lathom crossing the road from Prescot to Winwick. Frank Bamber wrote about Marshalls Cross in Clog Clatters in Old Sutton:

For hundreds of years, Marshalls Cross must have been a place where the ancient travellers travelling from Wales and Cheshire stopped. Reaching the River Mersey, crossing it at Fiddlers Ferry and moving along Chester Lane, they might have stopped, rested and prayed at the ancient Saxon cross, before continuing their hazardous journey to the North. Perhaps the advent of the old Bull and Dog followed on the tradition of the old places where the travellers could partake of food and drink and rest for a while. Although Marshalls Cross was, and still is, a part of Sutton, we, from Sutton, always looked on the Crossites as a small community of their own...Marshalls Cross also had its own rugby league team and ground, on which I have played. It ran along the top end of New Street to one side of Graces Square.

At the St.Helens Town Council meeting of February 7th 1900, it was agreed to raise a portion of Marshalls Cross Road by five feet. In the discussion, Sir David Gamble commented how from Peasley Cross past St.Helens Hospital to the Waterdale Crescent area, there was not a single yard of flagged footpath. This was clearly corrected by the time the photograph below was taken.

Marshalls Cross Road, Sutton, St.Helens
A postcard of the junction of Marshalls Cross Road and Robins Lane c.1915 - contributed by Sutton Historic Society

Also see Memories of Sutton Part 3 article: Marshalls Cross Memories by Liz Mercer

b) Eaves Lane in Sutton, St.Helens

Thieves Lane in Sutton, St.Helens now known as Eaves Lane

Did you know that Eaves Lane was originally known as Thieves Lane? In fact all 19th century Ordnance Survey maps, including this one from 1849, refer to it as Thieves Lane. In 1902 a number of St. Helens streets were renamed for one reason or another and Thieves Lane was one. There were few inhabitants, if any, of the street that connects Sherdley Park and Marshalls Cross Road with New Street. Ivy Cottage, pictured below, was at the top of the road and may have been considered as being in New Street.

Indeed in the 1901 census, Thieves Lane doesn't rate a mention. Even in 1964 when the photograph (right) was taken by Jim Lamb from St. Nicholas church tower, Eaves Lane was a desolate track. Probably the reason that it was initially known as Thieves Lane was that at night it would have been a prime location for thieves and vagabonds to waylay travellers.

In 1966, 27 acres of land in between Eaves Lane, Marshalls Cross Road and Sutton Park was sold at auction to a developer. Within a few years housing estates began to occupy the greenfield site and Eaves Primary School was built, completely changing the landscape. (see How Sutton's Changed)

Eaves Lane in Sutton, St.Helens
A postcard photograph of Ivy Cottage at the top of Eaves Lane, Sutton taken around 1910

c) Leach Lane, Leach Hall (& Sutton Leach)

'Leach' or 'leech' has historically referred to a stream that runs through a swamp or bog, which is essentially what one finds between Mill Lane and Leach Lane via the Sutton Brook.

Sometimes it was referred to as Toad Leach and there was a Leach Hall which John Yates sold to Hamlett Yate in 1690 for the sum of £600 and a yearly rent of £16.

A document in 1724 refers to Leach Hall possessing 'waterwoods, underwoods and mines of cole'. This was a marriage settlement in which Hamlett's sister Ann was to marry Egerton Leigh and the groom would receive "the Hamlett Yate situated in Sutton in the parish of Prescot commonly called Leach Hall". The estate then seems to have been sold to an Edward Falkener who sold it onto Michael Hughes in 1800 for £2700. In the 1851 census William Blinkhorn is resident at Leach Hall.

Leach Cottage in Sutton, St.Helens
A picture postcard of Leach Cottage in Sutton near Leach Lane photographed around 1910

d) Lancots Lane in Sutton Oak

Lancots Lane in Sutton Oak used to be a hub of industrial activity with Sutton Glass Works that stretched across both sides of Lancots Lane, bonecrushers and fertiliser manufacturers Crone & Taylor and later Sidac, amongst other businesses, that provided much needed employment to thousands of Suttoners.

These days it's more renowned as the home of the Sutton Oak Welsh Chapel and a low redundant railway bridge (right, just 8' 3") which regularly gets struck by drivers who put far too much faith in their Sat Navs. The last time was on February 27th, 2008 when an Asda home delivery van had its top sliced off!

I've previously been informed that the derivation of Lancots Lane is 'Lance Corporal Cotts'. However, Paul Cooper who was born opposite Green End Lane, believes that the etymology is connected with the Lancashire Cottage Cemetery in Belgium begun partly by the 1st East Lancashire Regiment. Any further information on this would be appreciated.

e) Ellamsbridge Road in Sutton, St.Helens

Ellamsbridge Road is where these days, we find All Saints Church, an Esso garage and another low, redundant railway bridge. The original Ellams Bridge across Sutton brook (which locals called the School Brook here after Sutton National School) was built in the eighteenth century.

The brook then hugged the road and bent around to Watery Lane and was later straightened and deepened to reduce flooding. The street's prefix is named after Henry Ellam, who was an influential figure in Sutton in his day, and who also owned property in Parr and Lymm.

Ellam's will, dated 16th June 1796, has survived and one of his executors was his friend Thomas Greenall of the St.Helens brewery family. Henry Ellam's estates were bought by Michael Hughes of Sherdley Hall in 1797 for £1463. The most notable property was Ellam's House, a.k.a. Tripe Shaws, which dated back to the 18th century and was only demolished in the mid-20th century.

f) Watery Lane in Sutton

Watery Lane road sign in Sutton, St.Helens

Watery Lane is one of the oldest streets in Sutton, connecting Worsley Brow with Parr. Road nomenclature in centuries past tended to be based upon relevance to the location rather than a pretty name. If streets weren't given the name of a notable person or family who had lived in the area, they were named after something that was present.

So Watery Lane was named after the nearby Sutton Brook and the regular flooding that it caused during winter. This was endemic in this low lying area for many years during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some houses had both their front and back doorways bricked up two feet high to prevent floods to the lower rooms.

In a letter published in the St.Helens Reporter on January 12th, 1915, landlord E. Guest wrote:

Every time there is a rainfall my property is flooded and I have lost two good tenants through having to wade in water in the houses: it has been 3 to 4 inches deep.

One of the worst floods was in 1934 when on August 29th after heavy rainfall, flood water entered Watery Lane houses to the height of tabletops in kitchens and flooded the base of staircases. The St.Helens Reporter (pub.31/8/1934) dubbed it 'Day of the Great Splash':

Furniture floated around living rooms. People living in the houses spent an anxious time as they watched the flood rising and many of them quitted their homes [from upstairs windows] by ladders.

Exasperated residents of Watery Lane complained to the newspaper how flooding was an annual winter event. Eventually the authorities put measures in place to deal with the problem, which included the straightening and deepening of Sutton Brook.

g) Waterdale Crescent in Sutton

St.Helens Reporter article from 1899 on renaming of roads in Sutton

With the large-scale growth of St.Helens during the nineteenth century, the town's bureaucrats were kept very busy naming new roads and renaming existing ones. The latter seems to have reached its peak around the turn of the new century with a number of Sutton streets changing their monicker. The reasons aren't always clear but sometimes it was to avoid confusion with other similarly named roads in St.Helens.

So around 1904, Sutton's own Church Street in Pudding Bag became Woodcock Street and Church Lane became Monastery Lane. Sometimes only sections of a road were renamed as was the case with Norman's Road in 1899, where part of it became Houghton Road.

The wonderfully named Ditch Hillock was restyled Waterdale Crescent in 1898, probably because streets were expected to be suffixed 'road', 'street' or 'lane', again to avoid confusion. It was eponymously named after the Waterdale Dam reservoir and Waterdale House, the home of the two William Blinkhorns and later Alderman Arthur Sinclair. Blinkhorn Snr. built Waterdale House during the early 1850s and Sinclair - the former secretary and superintendent of the St.Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway - moved in about 1878. Waterdale Dam, off Gerards Lane, is these days known as the Monastery Dam or St.Anne's reservoir.

During the 1890s, the Blinkhorns owned a number of properties in the area including a grocer's / off-licence at no. 51. In May 1893 James Smith became the tenant, purchasing the business from his father for £215. Smith seemed to have little head for business, however, and in 1897 was made bankrupt at Liverpool Bankruptcy Court. He admitted to the assistant official receiver, that he'd been insolvent since he began his enterprise and that he hadn't been keeping any books! A predecessor grocer / beerseller George Parr had also been made bankrupt in 1865.

The most well-known buildings in Waterdale Crescent were the church social centre, known as the Blinkhorn Rooms and the Crystal Palace pub which closed in 1935. Much of the old Ditch Hillock / Waterdale Crescent has long been demolished and is much less populated these days. See Memories of Sutton articles: Arthur Normington? Who’s He? and Sutton Memories – I Remember by David Normington Gerrard for details of the shops and people in Waterdale Crescent during the 1940s and '50s.

h) Baxters Lane in East Sutton

These days most visitors to Baxters Lane are likely to be making their way to Morrisons supermarket. In past times it was the site of Sutton Oak Sheds, where small boys would go to gaze in awe at the magnificent locomotives stored and maintained there (see photograph right contributed by Sutton Historic Society).

Prior to the Sheds relocating to Baxters Lane, the district was largely agricultural land farmed by generations of Baxters, hence the street name. The most famous member of the family was Henry Baxter (1830 - 1886), the industrialist who owned a copper smelting plant and chemical works in Parr. The road was not named after Henry, however, as it pre-dates his factories.

However, the story of Henry Baxter's rise is a good example of the changing nineteenth century times and how Suttoners proved able to adapt.

baxters lane, sutton sthelens street sign

In 1834 Richard Baxter (1792 - 1872), the father of Henry, took a lease on Peasley Cross Farm. However, the 100 acres of unspolt land was soon damaged by acidic gases from the nearby Sutton chemical works, which eventually destroyed much of his crops. Richard was a pragmatist and realising that farming was becoming unprofitable for him, he sold his land for industrial use and for building plots.

He also insisted on his son Henry breaking the long Baxter agricultural line and taking a position in industry. It was a case of "if you can't beat them, join them" and so sixteen years old Henry found himself working at Sutton Copper Works in Sutton Oak.

He was highly thought of by partner William Keates and within nine years, at the age of just 25, became the firm's branch manager. In 1863 the ambitious Henry leased an idle smelting works in Parr from Keates and quickly made it profitable. Ten years later Baxter opened a chemical works next door and in 1883 the wealthy industrialist became the Mayor of St.Helens. All this through his Dad's farm becoming polluted!

Henry Baxter died on May 3rd, 1886 aged 56 at Rann Lea, Rainhill, formerly the residence of John Marsh, another chemical manufacturer. His thriving businesses did not long survive him, however. Baxter's copper works closed in the 1890s and his chemical works, although sold in 1890 to the United Alkali Co. for £100,000, closed early in the 20th century. The times were changing...yet again.

The Baxter memorial at the front of Rainhill Parish Church surrounded by iron railings

(This article is mainly sourced from Dr.Theo Barker's account published in
the St.Helens Reporter 12/3/1954 - courtesy St.Helens Local History & Archives Library)

i) Sherdley Park, Sherdley Road & Ell Bess Lane / Brow

In a St.Helens Reporter article of 1966, Sherdley Park was described as being the "lung of the borough" of St.Helens (30/7/1966). The Sherdley estate has also been at Sutton's epicentre for hundreds of years, with the Lord of the Manor's residence traditionally being Sutton Hall, prior to the Hughes family taking over the estate.

The Sherdley name is one of the very oldest in Sutton with the Sherdley family traced back to 1303 when they were recorded as freeholders of Sherdley Hall, its orchard and gardens. In those fourteenth century years the family name was variously spelt 'Sherdilegh', 'Sherdelegh' or 'Schardeley' and simply refers to pasture-land. The first element of Sherdley is believed to be derived from the Old English for 'sceard', which means a gap in an enclosure.

As most of the district in those days was moorland or moss, land that could be used for pasture was considered to be a valuable asset.

As well as the 300 acre park, the Sherdley name is remembered today through the nearby Business Park in Scorecross plus Sherdley Park Drive, Sherdley Caravan Park and Sherdley Road. The latter until 1902 was known as Ell Bess Lane and Ell Bess Brow, which was named after the Ell Bess inn that was once kept by an Elisabeth Seddon.

She was given the nickname of 'Hell Bess', because of her prowess in dealing with rowdy drunks that caused trouble on her premises! At some point the pub took on the former licensee's nickname, then the streets followed. There was also a Hell Bess Farm which was listed in the 1849 Ordnance Survey map and located a few hundred yards west of the inn.

The Hell Bess inn was located close to Dobsons Lane, which connected Hell Bess Brow and Lane with Sutton Heath Road. By the 1870s, the streets and pub had dropped the initial letter of 'Hell', probably through objections from clergy. After the streets were renamed Sherdley Road in 1902, the inn continued the Ell Bess name until it closed around 1960. However, the Ell Bess monicker was retained by a garage that took over the site, prior to relocating to the old Sutton 'Bug' cinema site. For over thirty years, Sherdley Caravan Park has housed traveller families on the old Ell Bess inn site. Dobsons Lane, incidentally, is now part of modern-day Sutton Heath Road.

(Partly sourced from St.Helens Newspaper 1/4/1938 - courtesy St.Helens Local History & Archives Library)

j) The Score & Scorecross

From around 1800, the main track through the Sherdley Hall estate and park has been referred to as the 'Score' or 'Hughes's Score'. The derivation is from the Old Norse word 'Skor', which means ditch. In an article published in the St.Helens Newspaper (1/4/1938), it stated that "the score, open to pedestrians, is, perhaps, the only rural walk to be found inside the St.Helens boundary."

With much of the estate agricultural, and with Sherdley Park, privately owned by the Hughes family with limited access for the public, the score was an important right of way for Sutton folk. It still exists today as points of park access from Elton Head Road ( see sign photo bottom right), Sherdley Road, Marshalls Cross Road and Scorecross although, perhaps, used more by sports enthusiasts in vehicles than walkers.

With no apparent signage on the paths to remind visitors of the track's past, the aforementioned Scorecross dual carriageway, which extends the A569 from Marshalls Cross Road, plays two important roles.

The highway both connects Sutton with the St.Helens Linkway and motorway network and serves as an important reminder of the heritage of the nearby track. Perhaps 'The Score' could also be added to the signs that direct visitors into Sherdley Park.

(Partly sourced from a St.Helens Newspaper article pub. 1/4/1938 - courtesy St.Helens Local History & Archives Library)

k) Clock Face

Like Sutton Manor, the village of Clock Face was created through the building of houses for the colliery’s workers. The Times of February 4th, 1914, reported how "a town has sprung up where a few months ago there were only fields". However, unlike Sutton Manor, the name of Clock Face pre-existed the Gorsey Lane pit by some years.

During the nineteenth century, there was a pub, street, railway station and bridge that bore the name of Clock Face. The inn is thought to have been the derivation of the name as it displayed a very large clock over its front door (pictured right). Many pubs and beerhouses took their monickers from nicknames bestowed on them by their customers, and this was probably the case with the Clock Face Inn. The first known reference to it was when publican Thomas Grace was awarded his license in 1800 and the first census of 1841 includes a reference to Clock Face.

The railway station which opened in 1852 put Clock Face firmly on the map. Clock Face Road is one of the oldest streets in the district and research by Paul Challoner, creator of The Clock Lot Facebook page, suggests that the advent of the railway and its bridge changed its original route. Prior to the railway, Clock Face Road doglegged to the right towards Tunstalls Farm and then turned to meet up with the road's present-day route beyond the bridge.

The present pub opened in 1909 with a smaller, more attractive clock gracing its frontage. The Clock Face station finally closed in 1951 after having been reduced to halt status in 1926, although Clock Face Crisps kept the name in the public eye. Appropriately in 1985 its owner James Lawrence Snr. left £100 in his will to the staff of the pub, whose predecessor had given the crisp firm its distinctive name.

l) Sutton Oak

Over the years Sutton Oak has lent its name to a school, flower shop, engine shed, Welsh chapel, railway station and a mustard gas factory! Although locals referred to the latter as the 'Poison Gas Works' or the 'Magnum', its correct name was Sutton Oak Chemical Defence Research Establishment, often abbreviated to just Sutton Oak.

Its name is derived from large oak trees that were situated on the triangle of grass at the junction of Lancots Lane and Sutton Road. It was locally known as Sparrow Park and there also used to be a street called Oak Tree in the vicinity which is mentioned in the 1841 census. 31 stone builder John 'Bally' Whittaker became licensee of the Oak Tree Inn in or near Ellamsbridge Road around 1880 and he also lived at Oak Cottage.

m) Heward Avenue, Beth Avenue & Freda Avenue

The Heward family were builders who lived in the now-demolished Yew Tree Cottage in New Street, which was located in between Sutton Cricket Club and Eaves Lane. In 1937 they built Freda Avenue, Beth Avenue, Yew Tree Avenue and Heward Avenue, as well as a few homes in New Street. Unusually, proprietor Richard 'Dick' Brown Heward was allowed to choose the names of the newly-built streets and took inspiration from his family's names. So Heward Avenue was eponymously-styled after his surname and daughters Elizabeth and Freda Heward gave their forenames to Beth and Freda Avenue.

Only a small number of homes were then built in Beth Avenue, which had farmland in between it and Gerards Lane. During the 1960s when St.Helens Council elected to extend the street, creating what some dubbed 'Legoland' houses, the family complained about the continued use of the name 'Beth'. The part of the street that the Hewards had built eventually became Eton Hall Drive and the rest of Beth Avenue is now Ridgeway Drive. (Also see article: New Street Estates in How Sutton Has Changed Page)

Appendix 1: Sutton Street Name Changes

A number of Sutton streets from the 19th century and early 20th, no longer exist and others have changed their name. For the benefit of family history researchers and others, this section will list streets which have been renamed with date of change.

     •  Bold Road (part of) renamed Abbotsfield Road in 1899
     •  Church Road renamed Monastery Road in 1902
     •  Church Street renamed Woodcock Street (Pudding Bag) in 1902
     •  Ditch Hillock renamed Waterdale Crescent c.1896
     •  Ellbess Lane renamed Sherdley Road in 1902
     •  Long Lane renamed Reginald Road
     •  Mill Lane (part from Marshalls Cross Road to Rainhill Road) renamed Elton Head Road 1902
     •  Normans Road (part of) renamed Houghton Road in 1899
     •  Rigbys Lane renamed Gartons Lane in 1902
     •  Thieves Lane renamed Eaves Lane in 1902

                    (partly sourced from St.Helens Local History & Archives Library)

Appendix 2: A - Z of Sutton Streets

Click Here to Download 'A to Z of Sutton Streets', a .pdf document which lists all of the streets contained within the East Sutton and West Sutton wards in the 1901 census.

Next: Part 27) Pudding Bag; | Research Sources, References & Bibliography

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