OneGuyFromBarlick

Hi
Read some of the posts previously as they are fascinating. Just joined. Living in the area for the last 20 years and interested in local history. I am interested in the street names especially in Kelbrook. Many are obvious but wondered about the meaning of Cobbs lane and Heads Lane.

Welcome to the site. Cob Lane possibly because it was a pack horse route? Heads is a mystery to me, which came first i wonder, the farm or the lane. It could have been that it was the head of the village....headlands? Just guessing. Heads Lane possibly continued right up to Black Lane Ends, pretty much on the route that the Pennine Bridleway follows now, and from there the roads went in all directions!

More welcome to OG. Do you have a name? I have nothing to add to what Wendy says other than if you are just starting to get an interest in place and other names, Get hold of a copy of Eilert Ekwall's 'Oxford Dictionary of Place Names. (HERE'S one on Bookfinder, £5 inc post and packing for a good hardback, grab it. You will never regret it!

After thinking more about Cob Lane, cob is another word for pack horse, so I'm happy to stick with that reason for the name. If you look at the 1825 Enclosure Award the road up from Yellow Hall towards Thick Bank is described as Moorgate Lane.

So was Folly Wendy. I think the reference 'Moorgate' was more a description of what the purpose of the road was. I also suspect originally it was a moor gait, a way onto the moor now it had been enclosed that didn't involve trespass on another's land.