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Archiver > LANCSGEN > 1999-08 > 0933519851


From: "Deborah Dean" <>
Subject: Re: Ashton le Willows
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 16:04:11 +0100


Hi Peter and all

>Why "le Willows", I don't know. My great-grandfather loved Ashton
>(though goodness knows why) and always referred to it as Ashton le
>Willows. Perhaps a nice way for him of brightening a very drab place.
>
Extracts from A History Of Newton-Le-Willows by John Henry Lane, written in
1918:-

Before and after the Norman Conquest, this district was called the Hundred
of Newton and Newton-In-Makerfield. The fee of Makerfield was originally
bounded on the north by Wigan and on the south by Winwick. It was also known
by the more descriptive and metrical name of 'Newton in the Willows'.

In early days, a traveller entering Newton from the south would have to
cross a stream running through a pretty valley. If he arrived in the summer,
he would probably be tempted to stroll along its willow shaded stream as far
as Castle Hill, where he would notice the valley branching to the right in
the direction of Golborne Dale and to the left towards Dene Dam. Thenceforth
the traveller would naturally associate Newton with its willow shadedstream,
and in writing of it would name it 'Newton in the Willows'. And thus Newton
was beautifully designated until some fifty years ago, when someone wishing,
we presume, to put a little Norman blood into its veins, deleted the
Anglo-Saxon words 'in the' and inserted the French definite article in the
singular number before the plural noun 'Willows' making it, as at present,
Newton-Le-Willows.

Hope this explains it for you.
Debbie Dean (nee Bennett)
Newton-Le-Willows, Merseyside, UK
(was Newton-In-Makerfield, Lancashire)

Researching
BENNETT - Great Barrow & Runcorn (Ches), Liverpool (Lancs),
DEAN - Liverpool & West Derby (Lancs)
FOSTER - Ashton-In-Makerfield (Lancs)
FORSTER - Burtonwood (Lancs/Ches)
HAYES - Burtonwood (Lancs/Ches)
LOCK - West Derby (Lancs)
MORTIMER - Much Hoole (Lancs)
WILSON - Much Hoole & Liverpool (Lancs)
WOLFE - Earlestown/Newton-In-Makerfield (Lancs) poss Manchester

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