William Dargue - A History of Birmingham Places & Placenames . . .  from A to Y

Watford Gap

B74/ B75 - Grid reference SK110010

Use the grid reference on the Ordnance Survey website - Get-a-map. 

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

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

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