What’s in a name?

Or how some people get wound up simply because they don’t believe it’s true!

The Kasbah

Since it was announced an area on Grimsby Docks was being reenergised and it was going by the name The Kasbah, people have been going apoplectic on social media channels.

They have accused others, who have heard it being called by that name, as liars and being told what do they know about the docks.

It was called that

I, for one, have heard it being called that. In 1990 as a spritely 20 year old I got a job at the National Fishing Heritage Centre (as it was then called) as a crew member. I loved the history and lapped up the stories the old dockers would tell us.

Men who had been fishermen, lumpers, or worked in other associated trades down the dock were there teaching us about its history. We learnt new expressions, like ‘egging back o’ doigs’, and we found out what life was like, harsh and brutal and not all romance.

When it came to planning a coach tour in 1991 to show visitors the docks and to guide them around and tell the stories about the buildings and the people, we turned to these men for our information.

It came to light that the area behind the Cosalt building, which was a hive of narrow streets, alleys, home to so many different businesses, had been called The Kasbah.

I had no reason to doubt these men who told me that. I didn’t accuse them of being liars or talking sh*t, I lapped up their stories.

Exotic location

The Kasbah, so named because it reminded someone of the kasbah in Morocco. The Kasbah in Marrakech is actually a walled citadel, but its narrow streets and busy markets obviously gave rise to the name n Grimsby. Either because it reminded a person of that area or it was a joke – a play on the name as Grimsby was the complete opposite.

No one knows for certain when the name began to be used, but it doesn’t have to have been written down for it not to be true. Neither does it have had to be used by lots of people. It doesn’t mean it is not true.

The people who told me the name were probably in their 50s-60s when they spoke to me in 1991, which means they were working down dock in the late 1950s/60s. They may well have picked up that name from older folk.

Support the town

Some people are narrow minded, and will not be open to the fact there may be alterative names or views.

The National Fishing Heritage Centre is now called the Fishing Heritage Centre – I don’t get angry or upset. Fields and streets once had different names or nicknames, but just because we no longer use them does not mean it didn’t exist.

Instead we should be uniting as a community, and embracing these historic stories and supporting our town as we move forward into a new age. It’s all a learning curve and one which should enrich our knowledge about the area and the people who came before.

Let me say this, using the name The Kasbah has not been the invention of the local authority or the heritage sector. It is a name whose origins and first use have been lost in time.