skitterick

1) A ‘skitterick’ was a stream which served as an open sewer, and it derives from two Old English words meaning ‘excrement’ and ‘ditch’.

The present spelling is evidence of Scandinavian influence and the word has survived as a minor place-name across the county. The best documented of these names was in Kirkgate in Wakefield, although the exact site cannot now be identified. It is mentioned regularly from the early fourteenth century: 1313 ‘in Kergate between Hesperode and Schiterike

1533 We present Rowland tode and smallpage wyffe that tha skore skyttyryge ... betwyx thys & sent tellynge [St Helen] day

1688 his ditch wherein runs the water called Skitterick.

places Wakefield
dates 1313 1533 1688

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Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0