Twitten:
A narrow thoroughfare, or alley (OE twiten) **
The ME forms of _twitten_ (e.g. 'atte Twyten' in 13th c. Sussex surnames) point to OE *_twiten_, related to German _Twiete_ 'narrow lane, alley'.
While Brighton has its Lanes, Lewes and other Sussex towns have ‘twittens’, York has ‘snickleways’, Shrewsbury has ‘shuts’ and then there is ‘ginnel’, a general term for an alleyway.
I haven’t tracked down the origin of snickleway, but a ‘snick’ is a small cut and that seems the most likely connection. ‘Ginnel’ seems to be related to a gin, or trap and ‘shut’ also has connotations of being closed in or trapped. I suspect that these two names came about because the alleyways concerned could be barred off at night to provide security. Interestingly, there are discussions going on in some towns and cities about the possibility of reintroducing this practice as a way of excluding prostitutes, drunks and the illicit drug trade.
The names of York’s medieval ‘snickleways’, which were narrow pathways on which merchants set up tables and hawked their wares, are a historical record in themselves - Lady Peckett's Yard, Coffee Yard, Mad Alice Lane, The Shambles.
In Shrewsbury among the ‘shuts’ names are Bear Steps, Cut Throat Lane, Grope Lane, Pig Trough; these names reflect the activities that went on there.
One of my favourite street names is Knockin' Street, which used to be Cokabitinestrete, related to cucurbite (cucumber shaped, from the Latin cucurbita = a gourd) which describes the shape of the street.
