Thursday 18 March 2010

Thingwall cottages

The settlement of Thingwall was recorded in the Domesday Book as Tuigvelle, and has been variously known as Fingwalle (1180); Thingale (circa 1250); and Thynghwall (1426). The name indicates that it was once the site of an assembly place.



The old village of Thingwall has been swallowed up by modern development but there are a few old sandstone cottages around.

 
 

Traditional buildings in the area are constructed of locally quarried yellow sandstone but these two eighteenth century ones in Whaley Lane have been whitewashed. Several small sandstone quarries once existed in the area including one at the top of the appropriately named Quarry Lane. Little evidence of these quarries now exists as the land has been redeveloped for housing or for the construction of an above ground fresh water reservoir.

4 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures; and to me very interesting name history. As soon as I saw the name I wondered if it might be of the same origin as our Swedish "Tingvalla" (a name not uncommon for an old part of a town). Got confirmation as I read on, because ours also indicates that it was once a site of assembly. 'Ting' was/is a word for an assembly to decide things, including trials.

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  2. It's always interesting to see what's still around when we actually look for it. That's been one of the huge benefits from blogging.

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  3. I'm always looking for spare bits or Storeton stone as it is a rather rare commodity when it comes to restoration on the Wirral.

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  4. I quite often ate a brown bread ham sandwich in one of the little cottages on a Sunday afternoon.

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