Noake, the Victorian historian, wrote: 'Ancient names are the key-stones of history and should be scrupulously preserved'... The original name of Warmstrey Slip was Cowell's Lode. (This was the pre-1570. Lode is the old name for a river crossing, but even Warmstrey Slip is none gone). Sansome was the name of the man who owned the estate north of the City Walls, which was known as Sansome Fields, now Sansome Walk. Cheshire Cheese Entry off Foregate Street was originally the coach entrance to the Cheshire Cheese Inn Yard, a large open space from whence the first coach ran to London. The old Museum, then later, the Silver Cinema, and now the Odeon, stands on the site.
The King's Head, Sidbury, was formerly The Bell, but at the Restoration of King Charles ll in 1660, the name was changed. A barber named Baylis shaved one of his customers on the top of St. Andrew's Spire in 1801. Noake: 'I myself remember that nearly half a century ago the ancient custom of 'heaving' or 'lifting' was practiced in Merryvale at Easter. The populace assembled in the street, and any pedestrian who strayed that way was seized, unless he bought himself off, and was lifted high up in the air on the shoulders of the crowd'.