The Roles of William and John Henry Royle in the Development of ...

as a consequence. A pavement in front of the wall completed the building activity here.
Hence, the property and business interest surrounding Pool Plat culminated in a
construction, which can still be seen in Flixton today.
An understanding of the origins of the word ‘Platt/Plat’ will help to give us a
greater understanding of the nature of the topography in this locality and its relevance
to the historical development of Flixton. The first and most likely origin of ‘Platt/Plat’
is that it is a topographic name for someone who lived on a flat piece of land, deriving
from the old French ‘Plat,’ meaning a flat surface. The name fits this area of
Carrington Road well, as the land bordering the River Mersey here is flat meadow,
with a tendency to flood. This is particularly true of the patch of land to the south of the
river, known as Treeley, or Teeley in the Tithe Apportionment Book for Flixton, of
1842 and Treeley Meadow in Lawson (1898 p.122) Flixton Road was built across
Treeley, with William and John Henry’s grandfather, John Royle Senior, farming this
land in 1842 and their father, John Royle Junior, its owner by the time of his will in
1894, as noted in ‘Part Three.’ Even today the fields here are very flat and provide an
open aspect when entering or leaving Flixton Village, via Flixton Road. It may also
appear that the river level is relatively low and that flooding is unlikely. However,
before the building of the Manchester Ship Canal and the construction of Irlam Locks
led to better control of water levels at this point, the level of the river was much higher,
with a greater tendency to flood over a wide flood plain, including Pool Plat, making
the farmland here extremely fertile.
This flooding even stretched extensively into Flixton Village and across into
Cheshire, at Ashton - Upon - Mersey. The use of Platt is relatively common in this area
of the north west, across south Lancashire, Manchester and north Cheshire, especially
as a descriptive topographical name, connected to low - lying areas of land and water,
as in Platt Bridge, Wigan; Platt Fields, which is a very flat and low - lying area of
Manchester; and Platt Lane, which is in Moss Side, a low - lying and formerly poorly -
drained area. Moss Side was originally a moss on the outskirts of the mediaeval market
town and Platt Lane was once famous amongst the blue half of Manchester’s football
fans! However, Platt is also very widespread as a personal name (Dickens pp. 119 -
125. 2009) locally, at Sale; there is also Eye Platt Bridge and Eye Platt New Bridge,
which both carry the A56 over the River Mersey. The ‘Eyes’ refer to small islands,
which will appear and disappear depending upon whether the river is in flood, or not,
as this location is centrally placed on the Mersey floodplain. The river’s influence on
the farmland here suggests the name ‘Platt/Plat’ may also derive from the old English
pre - 7 th century ‘Plaett,’ from the early Mediaeval English ‘Plat,’ meaning a plank
bridge and “given to one dwelling by a footbridge.” (www.surnamedb.com) This
meaning becomes more relevant when we connect it with William Royle’s dealings to
have the bridge removed over Nelly Brook at Pool Plat, which provided the only access
to this farmland and neighbouring Whatcroft. Carrington Road itself also crossed the
brook at this point, as it flowed into the River Mersey and further emphasised the
importance of bridge access here and the origin of the name ‘Plat.’ John Royle Junior
also owned other plots in this vicinity, namely Treeley; Underhouses; Nearer
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