Penketh

The name of Penketh is a mixture of Celtic words: 'pen' which means end, edge or top and 'coed' meaning 'wood'. As a result, Penketh means "the end (or edge) of the wood", the wood in question being Burtonwood. 

A family named Penketh lived at Penketh Hall from 1216-1624, when it was sold to Thomas Ashton. 

Fiddler's Ferry is situated at Penketh, but there is some question over the origin of its name. One view is that it was a personal name of a former licensee of the 'Ferry Inn', known as 'Fidler'. Another idea is that the ferryman was accompanied by a fiddler when he crossed the river. However, the most likely story is it comes from the manor's original grantee, Adam le Vieleur, which meant 'Adam, player of the fiddle'. 

More than a century ago, Fiddler's Ferry was also home to the Warrington Regatta and around the same time (1919) the lightest sea-going concrete barge, the 'Elmarine', was launched.

Sankey

There is no real definition of the name Sankey as it is so old, but it is thought that 'San' was a personal name and 'Key' meant 'water', 'stream', or 'river'. There are many who think that the name comes from the brook which runs through the district.

Sankey brook originally powered the lord of the manor's water mill.  In 1325 the brook also formed a division between Great Sankey and Little Sankey (now known as East Sankey and West Sankey).