Watford Gap

B74/ B75 - Grid reference SK110010

A 'gap' in Middle English signified a breach or a break. Here it may have referred to the crossroads of Blake Street and the Lichfield road. The ford was on Blake Street which crosses a small stream near the junction. Could Wat be a personal name?


Blake Street is recorded as le Blakestrete in 1290. Blaec straet, meaning 'black' or 'bleak' is the boundary between the manors of Sutton and Shenstone.

William Dargue 27.02.09/ 01.08.2010

 

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For 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps of Birmingham go to British History Online.

See http://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapsheet.aspx?compid=55141&sheetid=8805&ox=650&oy=958&zm=2&czm=2&x=-23&y=250. 

 

Map below reproduced from Andrew Rowbottom’s website of Old Ordnance Survey maps Popular Edition, Birmingham 1921. Click the map to link to that website.