Who or what is behind the street names?

There are many names all around town and everywhere else, staring at us day in, day out. 

Do we know what they mean? Are they the names of individuals who have played a significant role in our history? Are they telling us they name a particular address in the area where some notable activity was held? 

In some cases history books, our historians, or other aficionados shed light on the significance of what the names on the plaques on the wall reveal. 

However there are some that those in the know have no clear explanation of what those names stand for. 

We have recently highlighted the importance of keeping our Llanito alive and urging our youngsters to come on board with it also. Recently there have been a number of streets or areas where plaques have been installed illustrating the Llanito version of the proper English name. 

However, as I mentioned, there are some street names and areas some of the historians and those aficionados I’ve spoken to don’t know the reason for and just hazard a guess or possibility as to what they might mean. 

One good example, as far as I can gather so far, is Baker’s Passage situated just off Main Street opposite the Next clothes store. One would assume there was once a bakery there or a notable person used to live there or in the area, but no concrete proof of either suggestion has been offered to me. 

By way of contrast, Kavanagh’s Court, running parallel to Charles V Ramp by Hargraves Parade, does have a reason as to why the chosen name – it is named after Thomas Henry Kavanagh, who was returning to India, took ill and landed in Gibraltar where he died and was buried in North Front Cemetery. That name takes us all the way to India before the Partition. 

Kavanagh was a civil servant who volunteered and was responsible for freeing trapped British units during the Indian Mutiny conflict in 1857. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, unusually to a civilian. He is commemorated on the steps leading up to Flat Bastion Road and the Upper Town area. 

College Lane, just off Main Street, takes its name from there being a college in the opposite Pitman’s Alley cul-de-sac between the Mango Store and the Horseshoe Bar. 

As we move down our main shopping street, we come to Parliament Lane: a meeting place for masons on the Rock and the connection could be that Masonic Lodges tended to recruit members of parliament to join the different lodges. 

And so we come to our main shopping area – Main Street. Well, from Casemates to Southport Gates was broken up into three places. 

The first stretch from, Casemates to John Mackintosh Square, was named Waterport Street. From that point to the Convent, you would have called it Church Street, and from the Governor’s residence to Southport Gates - or the Referendum archway - that was Southport Street. 

Following the capture of Gibraltar, the British gave it its three names, but it was eventually given its present day name of Main Street. 

Moving further north, Devil’s Tower Road was named after a lookout or military watchtower which stood there close to the Rock’s. 

There is also a Devil’s Gap Road and Devil’s Gap Steps leading off the junction of Prince Edward’s Road and Castle Road, with both the steps and road leading up to Devil’s Gap Battery where the guns placed there, one supposes, would be spitting out gunfire towards a possible enemy out in the bay. 

And so our street names continue to be named. Some clearer in meaning than others and some with no explanations easily found. 

Engineer Lane so named because the Chief Engineer’s residence was located where the car park is now. Forty Steps because there are forty steps to get up to Prince Edward’s Road. Horse Barrack Lane sounds pretty obvious but I was told there were never horses or stables there. 

There are so many names to mention. 

An important change has been, naming buildings or areas after our own Gibraltarian individuals for what they have represented instead of military officers and the like.  

There’s no doubt the list of names on the very many plaques placed on walls and all over Gibraltar have a million stories and tales to reveal when delved into. They are probably endless, attention grabbing and remarkably fascinating. 

Let’s now move on to my fortnightly observations. 

A letter in the Gibraltar Chronicle written by a cruise ship passenger who claims he is a regular visitor to the Rock was complaining about the Cruise Terminal not being very welcoming and the road all the way up to the town centre being in a dirty state. I have heard comments about the cruise terminal on a number of occasions. That’s true, and the powers that be say they have plans for a change of the building and the whole area. With so many cruise calls it would be good if those works started soon. The road leading up to the port barrier from the terminal I can’t comment on whether it is in a state or otherwise as there’s no entry unless you’re a passenger, crew member or port worker. But what I can say is that I go for my walks up to the barrier two or more times a week and Waterport Road is not dirty and, in fact, I often come across the cleaning company sweeping and then flushing the pavements fully all the way past Watergardens. So I don’t know where this person gets his idea of the road being dirty all the way up to the centre. 

Great to see the Royal Mail post box outside the court gardens free of stickers and nicely painted – no more stickers please. 

Our ‘Lego brick’ partitions on our roads, as I call them, should all be replaced by ones like the one on the corner of the Piazza opposite Gibtelcom. It’s in pristine condition, unlike the filthy ones in use around the place. 

Y no es por quejarme, but don’t you think our Main Street Christmas decorations look a bit bare and suffer from a lack of something more creative? The ones leading off Main Street onto the lanes are so much better... Just saying. 

See you soon.