The editor of Stockport's Advertiser Notes and Queries vol. 4 (1884), p.97a, in a discussion of the origins and river name of the Mersey, says that he has not found the name Etherow applied to this water earlier than Rev. John Watson's description of Melandra Castle in Archeologia, vol. 3:236 (1775 ), siting the Castle "on the south side of the river Mersey (or, as some call it the Edrow) near Woolley Bridge, in the parish of Glossop". The editor surmises (p.99a) that the use of Etherow "has been strengthened by the necessity of the localisation of this portion of the river, in consequence of its having been adopted by the Manchester Corporation for its water supply".
