Local History

The origin of the name of Whiteladies Road appears to be a pub, known as the White Ladies Inn, shown on maps in 1746 and 1804.The popular belief that both Whiteladies Road and the Blackboy Hill had connections with the slave trade is untrue: both names appear to be derived from pubs. A map of 1826 shows a house called White Ladies, and the road at least as far as Whiteladies Gate (near the present site of Clifton Down station) had been given its name by that time. At that time the road north of Whiteladies Gate was a turnpike leading to New Passages.