Castlefield

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historic inner-city district of Manchester in northwest England, built around the site of a Roman fort
2. An area of central Manchester in England known for its canal basin and preserved Roman and Industrial Revolution heritage
3. A conservation neighbourhood in the city of Manchester, England, named after an old castle site and its surrounding fields

Etymology: Castlefield is not a castle at all. It is a district of central Manchester, England, named for the earthworks of a Roman fort that once stood there. The Romans called the settlement Mamucium, and the fort's ramparts were still visible long after the garrison left. Local people, seeing a raised, walled enclosure in an open field, called the place by the name it still carries: the field of the castle. The name is built from two plain English elements. "Castle" comes from Old French "castel," which was borrowed from Latin "castellum," a small fort. "Field" is an ancient English word for open, cleared ground. Together they describe a location rather than a building, which is why the name remained even after the stonework had been dismantled or buried. "Castlefield" was therefore a descriptive label for a place where no medieval castle stood.