Road name origins: Park Road

The origins of a road on this spot probably originated as one of the entrances to Adlington Hall (no longer standing), which existed in the Elizabethan era (1558 - 1603). The first trace of it on a map is on the Yates map of 1786, where Adlington Hall is still clearly labelled.

Park Road, date unknown

Park Road (in red) on Yates map of 1786

By the time the of census of the first census in 1841, it is known as Bottling Lane. What was bottled there I have no idea, and I would be very interested to know if anybody has any theories. It may have been as simple as a small brewery which lent its name to the road. There was a 'Bottling Lane House' which was in use as a farm by 1841.

A lane is described as a narrow, often rural, way between fields, or trees, beaten flat by frequent public usage. The fact that it was described as a 'lane' suggests that it may have been quite rural originally.

The Leeds and Liverpool canal opened for trade in 1816, and Lower Adlington became a busy hive of activity, with boatmen travelling through Adlington delivering coal between the coal mines and factories of the North. .

The street was still known until Bottling Lane until the 1870s. In 1875, Adlington Cemetery opened and from the 1881 census onwards, the road is referred to as Cemetery Road.

Cemetery Road c1910

It was referred to as Cemetery Road until at least 1911. By the 1924 Kelly's trade directory, it was known as Park Road, although the playing fields nearby weren't opened until 1934, so it is unlikely they were named after these. There was a a park for hunting game that was a part of the Adlington Hall estate, mentioned as early as 1860, so perhaps the road was named after this.