222
NOTES AND QUERIES. no s. x. SEPT. 19, im.
as a concert-room in 1838, though with only
indifferent success.
As a place of entertainment it was closed about 1855, after having passed through a veritable penny-gaff stage, in which, as a boy, I remember to have seen it. It after- wards became used for trade purposes, and was once known as the Rotunda Auction and Sale Rooms, and, as already stated, still flourishes as the London depot of an Edinburgh firm.
In * Old and New London,' vol. vi. p. 373, there is an excellent engraving of Rowland Hill's Chapel as it appeared in 1814 ; and at p. 379 of the same volume there is a view of the interior of the Rotunda, Black- friars Road, in 1820, and from these views it can at once be seen that the buildings are different in every way. The chapel has also had a variety of experiences since the foundation stone was laid in 1782. Here from the following year, when it was opened, until 1833 the long period of half a century the eccentric but devout Rev. Rowland Hill ministered, residing in the adjoining house during the whole of the time. After his death in 1833 the pastorate devolved upon the Rev. James Sherman, on whose resignation in 1854 the pulpit was occupied by the Rev. Dr. Newman Hall. The Rev. Rowland Hill was buried beneath the old chapel floor. In 1876 Newman Hall's congregation migrated to the fine new church built for it in Westminster Bridge Road, and here, beneath the Lincoln Tower, the remains of Rowland Hill were reinterred in 1881. In the porch at the head of the grave the old memorial tablet, with the bust of the beloved minister formerly in the old chapel, has been placed, as well as one to the memory of the Rev. James Sherman, which I presume was also in Surrey Chapel.
The old chapel was taken by a body of Primitive Methodists, which remained there for some years. A new chapel was built by this body a little further down Black- friars Road, which has had the name of Surrey Chapel bestowed upon it. When the new chapel was ready for occupation, the old one was vacated and given over to secular purposes. For some years it was in the tenancy of a firm of manufacturing and agricultural ironworkers, and at the present time is occupied by Messrs. Hooper & Co., Limited, the well-known coach- builders ; but a notice is up to the effect that upon the completion of its Chelsea factory the firm will leave Blackfriars Road, and the premises will be to let on lease.
These form two instances of the vicissi-
tudes to which many of the old buildings;
of our changing London are subject.
W. E. HARLAND-OXLEY..
Westminster.
SALFORD: SALTERSFORD :
SALTERSGATE.
ON 15 Nov., 1851, an inquiry appeared i 'N. & Q.' (1 S. iv. 382) from the pen off the late Canon Raines as to the possible- derivation of the name Saltersgate, which occurs frequently in the neighbourhood of Manchester, the writer suggesting that it may mean the route by which salt was- brought from the Cheshire salt-mines to- Manchester. As, however, the most pro- minent instance quoted occurs in the valley of the Spodden, on the Yorkshire side of Manchester, this derivation, for this and other reasons, falls to the ground. I may explain that the valley is long, narrow,, and deep, and the Saltersgate follows closely for some miles the course of the river.. " Gate " means a lane or road.
In a recently published book I have- drawn attention to the fact that the deriva- tions of Saltersgate, Saltersford, and Salford,. are alike, and that the numerous places- bearing such names in Lancashire and elsewhere are usually on low marshy" ground, and generally on river -banks where- the willow or sallow tree flourishes.
In ' Words and Places ' and ' Names and their Histories ' the derivation of Salford is- given as from sealh, A.-S. a sallow, andi Saltreford or Salterford, the ford! by the sallow tree.
The Saltersgate mentioned by Canont Raines is in the Hundred of Salford, which takes its name from a ford where now is ax bridge over the Irwell in Manchester, called* formerly " Salford Ford."
Other Salfords in Lancashire near rivers- are in the towns of Blackburn, Burnley,. Clitheroe, and Todmorden. There is a* notable instance in Kent, in the ancient town of Tonbridge.
As the subject is interesting, I give- instances in different parts of England, taken, from Bartholomew's ' Atlas of England and Wales ' and from other sources. The- original ford has probably in many cases- been succeeded by a bridge.
Will any of your readers who happen to live in these localities kindly verify or amplify my notes ? It may be that in some instances the derivation is from a. salt marsh, as " Salhouse " in Norfolk,.andi
