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Snecky streetnames


DJS

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As I drive about the Sneck I'm constantly intrigued by some of our street names.  For example, so many are named after fields that it paints a much more rural picture compared to the Inverness of today.  I'm not pretending this list is exhaustive but...

Fairfield

Planefield

Bellfield

Damfield

Annfield

Mayfield

Caulfield

Morningfield (a recent addition)

Springfield

Drumfield

Also, who are some of our streets named after?  Some would seem to be named after old provosts - Provost Smith, Grigor and Mackay spring to mind.  Is it just a matter of time before we have Coffin John Crescent?  However, who was Greig and who were Maxwell, Smith and Lindsay to have streets in the same vicinity named after them?

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Doesnt whoever the provost is, get a street named after them? Am sure i heard that.... in fact......Provost Smith Road will now be named after the current provost. I could have been it dreaming tho

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It seems that most of the "fields" are in two groups in the Fairfield Road and Annfield Road areas. I think also that both areas were developed at roughly the same time - latish 19th century. Presumably they refer to the vicinity of fields which were in the area prior to development.

Calufied Road is different. William Caulfield was General Wade's chief engineer and eventual successor in the constructiuon of military roads through the Highlands between the 15 and 45 Jacobite Rebellions.

SMEE, a couple of things. Bill Smith is not the current provost, it's Bob Wynd (so presumably we'll eventually get a Wynd Wynd!). Also, Provost Smith Crescent was named after Provost William Smith of the late 60s and early 70s whose biggest achievement was possibly fronting the campaign to have Eden Court built. The immediate past provost is also William (Bill) Smith. We also have Smith Avenue, but that's been there since before them both - in fact I think it's 1930s.

We of course have two ex Provosts by the name of Fraser... Ian C Fraser (Coffin John) and William A.E. Fraser (Billy Butcher). However we also have two Fraser Streets (both pre dating these gentlemen but where else but Inverness could that happen?!). One goes from Bank Street to the junction of Church Street and Queensgate (about 50 yards from Billy Butcher's shop) and the other is off Haugh Road near Chalkie's shop.

Then there's Dalneigh where all the Saints go marching in.... St. Andrew, St. Valery (with that spelling it's clearly names after St. Valery en Caux where the 51st Highland Division was captured by Rommel in 1940), St. Mungo, St. Margaret, St. Fergus, St. Ninian, St John's. the other end of Dalneigh, in contrast, is all trees. Laurel Ave, Lilac Grove, Limetree Avenue, Hawthorn Drive, Rowan Road.

Laurel Avenue!! When I used to cycle home to St. Andrew Drive as a kid, I always used to speed up at the Dalneigh Road - Laurel Avenue roundabout and take a hard look to my left in case I was going to get chased by the Kirkhams or the Finlays!

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They had roundabouts in your day? The only ones I can remember were in the park or at the shows.

I think you should just stick with Bob Wynd for the street name. Kind of neat, just like the Bill the building attendant (posh name for jannie) when I was at uni. We just called him Bill Ding.

Just being pedantic, I suspect it's spelled Caulfeild. Maybe the registrar made a slip or something.

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Then there's Dalneigh where all the Saints go marching in.... St. Andrew, St. Valery (with that spelling it's clearly names after St. Valery en Caux where the 51st Highland Division was captured by Rommel in 1940), St. Mungo, St. Margaret, St. Fergus, St. Ninian, St John's. the other end of Dalneigh, in contrast, is all trees. Laurel Ave, Lilac Grove, Limetree Avenue, Hawthorn Drive, Rowan Road.

Laurel Avenue!! When I used to cycle home to St. Andrew Drive as a kid, I always used to speed up at the Dalneigh Road - Laurel Avenue roundabout and take a hard look to my left in case I was going to get chased by the Kirkhams or the Finlays!

On Dalneigh roads, does anyone know why Laurel Avenue is a dual carriageway? It has to be one of the most misplaced in Scotland.

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Jim Smith who used to play in goal for Caley at Telford Street in the fities was born on.... that's right..... Smith Avenue ; that is, if that is the road almost opposite Dochfour Drive running off Fairfield Road down to Kenneth Street.

As for Caulfield there is a Caulfeild Drive in prestigious West Vancouver where the most expensive houses in Canada sit overlooking the Pacific Ocean for the most part.

I had a client on this street and the second time I went over to her house I checked the spelling in my job card because I felt sure it was mis-spelled but, lo and behold, there was the road sign looming up with the name showing as Caulfeild Drive. :crazy07:

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Smith Avenue ; that is, if that is the road almost opposite Dochfour Drive running off Fairfield Road down to Kenneth Street.

Smith Avenue actually runs from Glenurquhart Road to the roundabout on Bruce Gardens wjhere it meets Maxwell Drive. You may be thinking of Ross Avenue (or maybe Harrowden Road or Perceval Road.) I haven't a clue about Culcabock apart from the likelihood that it's of Gaelic origin. There's a book about Gaelic placenames around Inverness by a BBC colleague of mine Roddy MacLean.

As for the dualling of Laurel Avenue, that always was a mystery, but on the other hand it did have the beneficial effect of increasing the width of "No Man's Land" at the top end!  :015:

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A quick google search shows a couple of interesting sites

The Culcabock suburb of Inverness started life as a village known as 'Fluke Street', from the Gaelic 'fluich' meaning 'wet', probably because the burn, now underground, would periodically flood the road. An inn on the Culcabock Road still carries the name 'The Fluke'.

from this website

Am Baile

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Smith Avenue ; that is, if that is the road almost opposite Dochfour Drive running off Fairfield Road down to Kenneth Street.

Smith Avenue actually runs from Glenurquhart Road to the roundabout on Bruce Gardens wjhere it meets Maxwell Drive. You may be thinking of Ross Avenue (or maybe Harrowden Road or Perceval Road.) I haven't a clue about Culcabock apart from the likelihood that it's of Gaelic origin. There's a book about Gaelic placenames around Inverness by a BBC colleague of mine Roddy MacLean.

As for the dualling of Laurel Avenue, that always was a mystery, but on the other hand it did have the beneficial effect of increasing the width of "No Man's Land" at the top end!  :015:

Smith Avenue  at  Google Earth  57o28'19.36"N, 4o14'13.56"  There's a good chip shop at the bottom now in Argyle Car Sales old garage and a shop where their showroom was.

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Guest couchpotato

The Culcabock suburb of Inverness started life as a village known as 'Fluke Street', from the Gaelic 'fluich' meaning 'wet', probably because the burn, now underground, would periodically flood the road. An inn on the Culcabock Road still carries the name 'The Fluke'.

had plenty wets in the Fluke! Do ya think they did Gaelic/English road signs to help visitors back then?

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Found this....

Culcabock (Inverness), C?il na C?baig.

This name appears to mean "the quiet spot of the kebbuck of cheese", but the original name was possibly C?l na Ceapaich, "the back of the tillage land". The name Capaig is found in Caputh, and this may be another origin of the name.

Whilst checking that one out, I was also reminded that "Dalneigh" is a corruption of the Gaelic for "field of horses". The pronunciation of that is more accurately "Dalneich" and that was what older Invernessians, including my grandmother, used to use.

The "field of horses" presumably relates to Dalneigh Farm on which the housing estate was built of of which the current Dalniegh Church manse (of "nicking the minister's apples" fame) was previously the farmhouse.

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Calufied Road is different. William Caulfield was General Wade's chief engineer and eventual successor in the constructiuon of military roads through the Highlands between the 15 and 45 Jacobite Rebellions.

I never knew that. Always assumed it had something to do with coal and the chimney, of what's now a farm, just off the A96!!  :confused06:

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I cannot confirm this theory, but I discussed this with one of the more mature guides who used to do the open top tours of Inverness and he told me that one of our illustrious former town planners had been on holiday in France, possibly Paris, and this was his way of making Inverness more european in design. Don't know if it's true, but it makes a good story. Apart from the French bit, the b*stards.

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