The current boundaries of the Ford neighbourhood of Plymouth stretch from Pasley Street and Browning Road, towards Wolsey Road (ending at Lidl), along Henderson Place, down Moor View, and to the edge of St Levan’s Park and play area.
In Old English, a ‘ford’ is a shallow place in a river, where people and animals can cross easily. This name crops up in many places around England, either as a full placename on its own, or as part of a longer name (as in Bedford, Salford, Bradford or Waford).
But there is no river in the Plymouth neighbourhood of Ford, so why would it be called this?
Looking at old maps of the area, we found the answer!
When we overlay the maps, you can see the route of the river (which in 1854-63 was called Keyham Lake)
Gradually this river and its lakes have been rerouted (perhaps underground?) and drained. You can also see that in 1835, the river was even longer – stretching all the way to and area known as Higher Swilly (now Beacon Park neighbourhood).
The 1854-1863 map also shows us that at the time, the Ford neighbourhood was just beginning to be built and developed for housing – previously it was fields and farmland.
You can explore more by searching for a present-day street name on the National Library of Scotland’s Side-By-Side map viewer at https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side
Daniel Tubbs (who runs the Ford: A Step Back in Time facebook group) found this photo of what Keyham Lake looked like in 1896.
Contributors:
- Rachel Dobbs
- Daniel Tubbs