HISTORY: Aberystwyth street name meanings revealed!
How about a bit of history for you? With thanks to Howard C. Jones we have been given insight to some of the street names and their meanings.
ABERYSTWYTH STREET NAMES
By Howard C. Jones (Will O'Whispers)
ALBERT PLACE MAES ALBERT
Built in the 1860s opposite the Queen's Hotel, this was probably named after Prince Albert, who died in 1861.
ALEXANDRA ROAD
Name adopted about 1900, when it was changed from Railway Terrace (Princess Alexandra had visited Aberystwyth in 1896). David Lewis built the first houses, at the Chalybeate Street end and the street was named Lewis Terrace. This name stuck until at least the 1870s, but this time "Railway Terrace" was adopted for the 'part near the station, then extended to the whole street.
ALFRED PLACE
Used as early as 1834. Identify of Alfred not known.
BAKER STREET
The only clue to the origin of this name is an early in an 1816 guidebook which shows William Mathias, baker, living in "Baker Street", which was then newly-built.
BANADL ROAD
When Mr. Colby, Garreglwyd, built the first house about 1905 he called the road Heal Banadl (Broom Road) but the name generally adopted was Banadl Road.
BATH STREET
When the street was developed in the late 1860s, it was done by taking some landfrom the rear of the Marine Terrace houses, hence "new found land" to give the name Newfoundland Street. Public baths were opened opposite the Presbyterian Chapel in 1880 and a few years later (before 1895) the name was changed to Bath Street.
BLUE GARDENS
In 1636 (according to a document in the National Library of Wales) the area above Mill Street was called Gerddi Gleision. The group of houses called Blue Gardens first appears in the 1851 census by this name.
BREWER STREET STRYD Y BRAGDY
Used as early as 1841, possibly because a maltster lived close by. No brewery known in this area.
BRIDGE STREET
One of the oldest names and mentioned in 1ih century documents. One of the town gates was at the foot of the street, opposite the early bridge.
CAMBRIAN STREET
Originally laid out about 1815 and named Waterloo street after the battle which took place that year. By the 1830s it was Moor Street (the area was originally part of the Marfa or Moor), from Chalybeate Street to Thespian Street. By 1871, the upper part was renamed Cambrian Place, possibly because of the Cambrian Railway, and a few years later Moor Street was changed to Cambrian Street. Moor Lane was between Cambrian Street's north end and Alexandra Road.
CASTLE LANE
Maps of 1797, 1809 and 1834 show this to be Butchers Row, but it was Castle Street by 1841. Earlier, Castle Street had been the name applied to what was King Street by 1841. There was a Castle Lane in Trefechan until the 1920s.
CHALYBEATE STREET
When originally developed early in the 19th Century, this was called Chalybeate Terrace. It was changed to "Street" before 1895. A Chalybeate well was discovered C.1779 on a site near the town end of Plascrug Avenue. The well building was demolished C.1867. (The name Chalybeate Terrace first appears in overseers' accounts in 1817)
CORPORATION STREET
This name appeared about 1815. The land was held on corporation granted leases, as with most of the town beyond the town wall boundary.
CRYNFRYN ROW
Built by Sir Thomas Bonsall, of y Crynfryn, a large house that still stands in Eastgate. The row was built about 1792 and was often known as Bonsall's Row, though this name was also applied to early houses in Marine Terrace. Crynfryn Buildings (Tai Crynfryn) were built in the 1860s.
CUSTOM HOUSE STREET
Originally called Sea View Place, the name was changed after the Custom House was transferred from Pier Street to a site opposite the present Castle Hotel early in the 19th Century. The present name dates from about 1840 or shortly before.
EASTGATE
A gate in the town wall leading across the Marfa was referred to as the "east gate" in a Court Leet document of 1769. In the 18th Century it was called "Bwlch Bach" and the street Heol y Bwlch Bach, though another name was Cobblers Street (Heol y Cryddion). By 1816 it was Little Darkgate Street and remained so until the late 1920s, when it was renamed Eastgate. Off this street are Bryn Place, Laurel Place and Gateway Buildings, and earlier there was Windmill Court, which was around a windmill.
EDGEHILL ROAD
Early in this century it was Crefftwr Road (Craftsman's Road) but became Edgehill Road after a short time.
ELYSIAN GROVE
Named after Elysian Grove, a fairy glen with walks created alongside the Penglais brook in the 1880s.
GEORGE STREET
This was built on land owned by the Powells of Nanteos. George Powell the poet (1842-82) was the squire's heir when the street developed in the 1860s.
GOGERDDAN COTTAGES
The land for these cottages in Penglais Road, built in the 1870s, was owned by the Pryses of Gogerddan. (Gogerddan Place was the old Barracks, built 1867, demolished 1980, also built on Gogerddan Land).
GRAY'S INN ROAD
A copy of the London thoroughfare's name, it first appeared in 1815 as Gray's Inn Lane, after the name was changed from "Back Lane".
GREAT DARKGATE STREET
In the 1yth and 18th Century, this was called Heol y Porth Mawr (Great Gate Street) or Heol y Porth Tywyll (Darkgate Street) after the main gate in the Town Hall. A plaque on the Halifax Building Society [now HBOS] offices today marks the spot where the gate stood. The name Great Darkgate Street came into fashion in the 19th Century.
HIGH STREET
The first houses were built here on the Maesglas about 1785 and the name used first was Castle Green, later New Street or y Stryd Newydd. However, High Street was adopted by 1816.
KING STREET
As this name first appeared around 1816, the street was presumably named after George III. A map of 1809 shows it to have been called Castle Street at that time.
LAURA PLACE
These houses were built after the Assembly Rooms were completed in 1820 and Laura Gardens laid out opposite, where St. Michael's Church now stands. Laura was Laura Phelps, wife of W.E. Powell, M.P. of Nanteos.
LISBURNE TERRACE
This late 19th Century road was built by David Jones and his son David Morris Jones. David Jones came from Llanafan and named the street in honour of the Earl of Lisburne, for whom he had completed many contracts.
LOVEDEN ROAD
Loveden was one of the family names of the Pryses of Gogerddan. One of the Pryse heiresses had married a Mr. Loveden in the 18th Century. The Pryses owned land in this area.
MARINE TERRACE
Laid out in the early years of the 19th Century, this was so named by 1816, though sometimes was referred to as The Terrace.
MARKET STREET
The first Corn Market was built here in 1824 on a site near to where earlier open markets had been held. This was demolished in 1870 and replaced by another market building and this in turn was replaced by the "New Market Hall" in 1898. This third building became the Palladium Cinema in 1910, but was burned down in 1935.
MILL STREET
It is known there was a flour mill near the bridge as early as 1530. At least two mills were built on the same site in the is" and 19th Centuries. "Dan Ore" is an old name for the area below the Town Hall, Le. the Mill Street/South Road area. Mill Street was "Mill Lane" until 1830s.
PORTLAND ROAD
This was Portland Lane in 1841 Census, clearly named because of its proximity to Portland Street.
PORTLAND STREET
This street was developed sometime between 1809 and 1816, the name reflecting English influence in the town and the planning of its new streets.
POUND PLACE
This was Pound Lane as early as 1841, named after the town pound which was close to the North Gate. The name was changed to Trinity Place in 1901 but the old name was restored in the 1970s.
POWELL STREET
The rnld-ts'" Century Street was developed on land owned by the Powell family of Nanteos. W. E. Powell was MP for Cardiganshire from 1816 to 1854.
PRINCESS STREET
This emerged as Rosemary Lane in 1785 but by 1815 the name had changed to Princess Street.
PROSPECT STREET
Another name showing English influence, it was originally Prospect Row (in 1816 Guide), but "Street" by 1871.
QUEEN'S ROAD
The name was changed from Sandmarsh Road shortly after the Queen's Hotel opened on the seafront in 1866. Queen's Road, Queen's Square and Queen's Terrace all had their names by 1871.
QUEEN STREET
This became Queen's Street about 1815, after being called Barker Lane, for which no explanation is available. An unofficial name was Heal y Mach, street of the pigs, because the pig market was held in the area. Behind Queen Street were White Horse Court, Eagle Court and Collins Court.
ST. JAMES'S SQUARE
This was so named as early as 1809, again a copy of a London name.
ST. MICHAEL'S PLACE
Named because of its proximity to the first church of this name.
SEA VIEW PLACE
According to Wood's map of the town, 1834, Sea View Place was then called Beach Street, while Custom House Street was Sea View Place, though there is no confirmation of this anywhere else. Y Ro Fawr was the storm beach on which the far end of South Marine Terrace was built.
SKINNER STREET
This was built about the 1830s and appears in the 1841 Census by name. A "factory" which contained a skinner stood beside the Poplar Row brook on the Stanley Road Side about that time.
SOUTH ROAD
The name South Road was adopted in the late 19th Century but at least until 1875 it was always Shipbuilders Row. The 1841 Census shows a number of shipwrights, sawyers, carpenters and other craftsmen living in the street and neighbouring ones. Tan y Cae was the old name for the area below the Maesglas, and was preserved in the name of a Sunday School.
TERRACE ROAD
Although the Wood map of 1834 shows Terrace Road as being the entire street from the Station area to the seafront, it was in fact only the North Parade to seafront section that was Terrace Road.
The Station end was Mary Street and is named as such in the 1841-1871 Census returns, but was included in "Terrace Road" before the end of the 19th Century. Mary was the daughter of David Lewis, the man who owned the land facing where Alexandra Road now stands.
THESPIAN STREET
Named in the 1830s after a theatre was opened on the corner with North Parade.
VAYNOR STREET
Vaynor is a corruption of y Faenor, the manor (of Llanbadarn Fawr).
VICTORIA TERRACE
The first three houses next to the Queen's Hotel were designed in 1868 by J. P. Seddon (the college architect) and named Victoria Terrace in the early Seventies. A "Victoria Terrace" somewhere in the area of the Queen's Hotel site was included in the 1851 Census but its precise location is not known.
VULCAN STREET
This was "Vulcan Place" in 1816 but Vulcan Street by 1871. Vulcan was the Roman god of fire and the fact that the street contained the smithy of a chain, cable and anchor smith in 1835 (according to Pigot's Directory) suggests an explanation of the name.
WESTERN PARADE
The Station and the coal-yard area were redeveloped in about 1925 and Western Parade was named after the Great Western Railway.
WILLIAM STREET
Built on Powell land, this street was named after William Edward Powell, M.P. of Nanteos, who died in 1854.
Note: This is obviously not a complete list and omits streets such as North Road which are self-explanatory. This area excludes Trefechan and Penparcau and the streets built this century in the Llanbadarn Road and Penglais Road areas.
We would like to thank Howard C. Jones, Penarth, November 1980 - for this information.
Do you have anything you would like to add? Do you have any history that you would like to send us?
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Thanks for reading,
Take care,
The Alexanders Team.