ROODEN

The name Rooden is very old and in the fourteenth century the Holland family owned this area of Prestwich. The word comes from 'Rudying' and means in Anglo-Saxon a 'clearing of trees'. Rainsough, the original spelling being Rainshowe is also derived from the Anglo-Saxon. The second syllable is the Saxon word for hill.

HEATON

Yates's map of Lancashire shows how rural the Parish of Prestwich was during the late 18th century. The area consisted mainly of green fields and wide open spaces with a number of houses dotted about the country-side. Prestwich village was made up of two parts; one being fairly close to the church and the other around Great and Little Heaton.

At one time Great Heaton was known as Heaton Reddish and Little Heaton as Heaton Fallowfield.

In 1841 the two Heatons had only 144 houses with 1,000 inhabitants. Great Heaton contained 875 acres; Little Heaton 531 acres. About half of Great Heaton in now within the Park wall. (John F Wilson in his book 'A History of Prestwich' does not say where this information came from but the year 1841 may be significant, being the year of the census!)