PLACE NAME
Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a fictional character in Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel, Ivanhoe. The story is set in England during the middle ages amid rising tensions between the Saxons and the Normans. The young Saxon protagonist, Ivanhoe is out of favour with his father for his allegiance to the Norman king Richard the Lionheart who is in an Austrian prison having been captured on his way home from the Crusades. To make matters worse Ivanhoe has fallen in love with Lady Rowena, his father’s ward, whom he intends to marry off to the Saxon noble, Athelstane, in the hope of reawakening the Saxon royal line. Published in 1819, it proved to be one of Scott’s best-known and most influential novels. There used to be a pub on the street called The Ivanhoe which opened in 1896. This is one of a small group of local streets built in the 1870s that are named after leading characters in Scott’s novels. See Bellenden Road and Avondale Rise.
