The Meaning of the name Failsworth by Jim McMahon

There has been a number of suggestions as to why our town has become known as Failsworth, and many spellings along the way.

Some consider the name to come from the Saxon word 'fail' meaning turf or sod and 'worth' meaning rising grounds between two streams'. Both worth' and wryth means an enclosed homestead.

The Oxford English Place Names states that Failsworth means an enclosure with a special kind of fence, and was first recorded in 1212 was Faylesworth. This ties in with the Penguin Dictionary of British Place Names who say Failsworth means a fenced enclosure, their reasoning is as follows; 'fagels' (fence) + worth (worth denoting a particular type of enclosure) = Failsworth.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names also tells us that Failsworth was recorded in 1246 as Failesworth.

The suggestion that Failsworth means a fenced enclosure would make sense. Before the industrial revolution the town was just farmland, which we can assume was fenced.