Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• del Slac 1274 WCR

• Slack(e) 1548 FF 1576 WillY 1620 FF

Etymology

Slack, del Slac 1274 WCR (p), Slack (e )1548 FF, 1576 WillY, 1620 FF. v. slakki 'a depression in a hillside', here the small valley where Longwood Brook rises. Slack is well-known as the supposed site of the Roman station of Cambodunum (AntIt); it lies close to the Roman road from Manchester to the R. Calder (cf. Roads) and Roman coins and tiles have been found in the immediate vicinity. The distances Calcaria (Tadcaster) to Cambodunum 20 miles, Cambodunum to Mamucium (Manchester) 18 miles in AntIt are a rough approximation (direct distances are 29 miles and 19 miles). Cambodunum itself has been equated with Bede's in Campodono (OE  Bede Donafeld ), where, near the royal seat, under Edwin king of Northumbria the first church was built after the Conversion, soon to be destroyed by the pagan Mercians (Bede ii, 14). A similarity in name is the only evidence for the supposed identity. Cf. Introd.