Monument record 7519 - Stornoway

'Named in a court case of 1769, it originally appears to have been known as Dempster Street at its northern end. At some point, the name was changed to Oliver Street for its whole length, but this quickly revertedt to Cromwell Street in the first half of the nineteenth century. The confusion stems from Captain Benjamin Oliver and Oliver Cromwell. Captain Oliver was commander of the ship the Prince of Wales, sent to surpress smuggling in the Hebrides in 1807. He was at the centre of an English enclave in Stornoway and was present as a guest when the foundation stone was laid at the castle in 1841.(His name is still preserved in Oliver's Brae on the outskirts of the town.) Cromwell Street was renamed after Oliver Cromwell, during whose protectorate, one or possibly two, forts were built in Stornoway. The street itself may mark the western or more probably, the eastern ditch of the mainland fort(see pp 24-5).'(E.Dennison and R.Coleman,1997,69)

E. Patricia Dennison & Russel Coleman, 1997, Historic Stornoway: the archaeological implications of development (Bibliographic reference). SWE41004.