It would be
interesting to learn why the Public Health Committee of Knottingley Urban
District Council has chosen the name ‘The Arcade’ for the shops at
Hill Top, in view of the fact that the shops simply form a row. An arcade
is a "passage arched over; any covered walk, especially with shops
along one or both sides." (COD) The word ‘arcade’ is derived from
a word meaning ‘arch’. Perhaps this name has been chosen on the ‘luca
a non lucendo’ principles: - ie. It has been called an arcade because
there is no arch!
I would
suggest that a better name would be "High Cross", the name given
to that district on all ordnance maps, which probably means "The
cross roads at the top of the hill." This would not only be a
suitable name but it would perpetuate an old-established name; and its
easy syllables would be easy to say.
Mr. W. Allen,
licensee of the Sailors Home Inn, Knottingley, wondered whether the
building is one of the oldest in the town (Express, 31st December
1964.) He may be interested to know that on the ordnance map of over
100 years ago, surveyed in 1845, the buildings on the site of the present
inn are shown as the Wheat Sheaf Inn. The buildings shown may of course be
the existing buildings in spite of the fact that the name of the inn has
changed.
