What's in a Name?

Ever since people first started giving to names to the landmarks and localities in and around Heywood, many of those names have constantly changed and evolved over time. The maps of bygone times show that our ancestors knew the places around Heywood by quite different names to those ones used today.

Link to a description of how the name Heywood changed over the centuries
Why was Heywood was spelled in dozens of different ways over the centuries?

Link to the meaning of the name Heywood
Do we know the actual meaning of the word 'Heywood'?

Link to why is Heywood known as Monkey Town?
Why does Heywood have the rather unusual nickname of 'Monkey Town'?

Link to story of a dispute over land at Ashworth in 1549
How did place names affect a dispute over land at Ashworth in the 16th century - and what survives of those names today?

Link to information about old place names in Heywood
'Charles Town', 'Bit-Bats', 'Hays Hill' and 'New York' - what became of old names like this on the Heywood landscape?

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