What’s in a Name? Nantwich Streets Explored: Love Lane
This little Nantwich street links what used to be the two main routes south from the town centre, Pillory Street and Barker Street. Although a quaint street, the origins of its name might have more to do with illicit encounters rather than romance. It’s also not the first Nantwich street to be given this name.
A record from 1549 refers to “Masons Yards” in this part of Nantwich which James Hall (local historian writing in 1883) later describes as being known as Love Lane by his time. The name Love Lane itself is first recorded in 1674. To confuse matters, around the time of the fire of 1583, modern day Oat Market was known as Love Lane.
Street names like Love Lane are commonly said to be associated with prostitution and this is likely the case in some towns and cities. I have certainly been given this explanation for Love Lane in Nantwich in the past, however The English Place-name Society’s ‘The Place-names of Cheshire’ (1970) gives a more innocent reason: “lane where courting is done”.
Love Lane’s location on the edge of town years ago means that it could well have been the route that a young couple may take on their way to the more secluded spots in the nearby countryside. Or perhaps it is prostitution and the sources are too coy to admit it!
Whatever the meaning of the name, it’s clear that the street is an old one with a long history to match. The Masons Yard mentioned earlier suggests that Love Lane was originally an access road to a series of enclosures or yards as well as access to the rear of properties facing other nearby streets. Over time this gave way to homes and other buildings.
In 1722 a local lady called Ermine Delves allocated properties including two houses and a barn on Love Lane for almshouses for some poor Nantwich men and their wives. When Matthew Meakin left £200 to support another poor family the Delves and Meakin Almshouses charity was formed. By 1896, six houses were maintained in Love Lane for poor men and their wives. This charity was later incorporated with several other Nantwich almshouses in the 1970s to form a new amalgamated body which still operates today although the Love Lane almshouses are gone. The names of Delves and Meakin are still remembered in the names of some of the buildings.
At number one Love Lane stands Nantwich Players Theatre. In 1980 The Nantwich Players purchased the Quakers Friends Meeting House to convert into a small theatre. Built in 1724/5 the the Friends Meeting House also provided a place for a small cemetery which continued to be used even after burials in the town itself were prohibited in 1850 in favour of a new cemetery on the outskirts of town.
Today Love Lane bears little resemblance to how it would have looked when someone first wrote down its name 350 years ago. Its appearance has changed but the name has endured and there’s surely something poetic about that.
Read more about Nantwich Street names here.
Bibliography
James Hall, 1883 – A history of the town and parish of Nantwich, or Wich-Malbank, in the county palatine of Chester.
J. Dodgson, 1970 – The Place-names of Cheshire.
