How are road names allocated?

[KeithW]

North Yorkshire villages have some rather peculiar street names. As an example there are:

3 Sled Gates, Fylingthorpe
Green Gate, High Hawsker
The Carrs, Ruswarp

At the Hamlet level your address might simply be
No 4 Low Easby , North Yorkshire

where Low Easby is the name of both the road and settlement.

[DB617]

At the Hamlet level your address might simply be
No 4 Low Easby , North Yorkshire

where Low Easby is the name of both the road and settlement.

That's a gift compared to Glamorgan country houses. A village here has one postcode and town name, and then a house name. Invariably the house you've been sent to doesn't answer any of their phones so you just have to get lost/stuck in roads inappropriate for vans over and over until you find it. I've been known to stop and ask at the pub, only to embarrass myself upon realising our call centre can't spell Welsh names for toffee and nobody understands the place name I'm asking for as it's so wrong.

If you can't tell I hate working in the sticks.

[KeithW]

There's an interesting case in the centre of Wisbech - a nice smooth regular ellipse/egg shape, one side of which seems to be called The Crescent, but the other side of which comes under two different street, or rather "Place", names.

To my (inexpert) eye the buildings all look to be of similar age (with the single exception of a much more modern building housing the local library, which obviously came later).

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wisbe ... 4d0.158797

Why the whole thing wouldn't have been given a single street name - perhaps Circus - I do not know.

Wisbech was a rather prosperous port in the 18th century importing whale oil, coal and olive oil which in turn were used for the manufacture of soap (the Wisbech Soap Company) and also being the centre of a Quaker banking business . Peckover House now a NT property was originally called Bank House and was owned by the Peckover Bank which became part of the larger group that is now Barclays Bank. A lot of building took place on the back of this prosperity including The Crescent. Crescent's were the in thing during the Geogian era which is when Wisbech was at its most prosperous. In the late 18th and early 19th Century Quakers were a major power in the financial world. The backers of the Stockton and Darlington Railway were primarily Quaker's from Darlington.

The Crescent was built by a self made man called Joseph Medworth who started his working life as a bricklayer before moving back to Wisbech and setting up as a developer. Much of the land he built on was part of the derelict site of the old Bishops Palace which he reputedly bought cheaply from the See of Ely and from 1790 onwards turned into a fashionable place of abode for the prosperous new merchant class. The probability is that Union Place was built by a rival developer, there are some stylistic differences between the houses.

[PhilC]

When a new road is built, the developer must notify the local authority of the proposed names (Public Health Act 1925, s17). The local authority then has to approve the name in accordance with its current guidelines. I believe there are national guidelines, so each authority's rules are broadly similar.

Essentially each road has to have unique, unambiguous name which can be quickly located by emergency services. Most authorities prefer names with a local connection, historically, geographically or culturally. Names should not be difficult to spell, awkward to pronounce, obscene or open to interpretation. Names should not have a commercial connection and names should not be duplicated within the same authority. At one time it was a common practice to use different suffixes to indicate a cul-de-sac off a through road, so you may have had Church Road, with Church Close and Church Grove leading from it. Most authorities would class this as a duplicated name.

There is also guidance on what suffixes are acceptable, and in what circumstances. For example Court and Close should only be used for culs-de-sac, Crescent should only be used for crescent shaped roads, Hill should only be used for a road on the side of hill - the list goes on. Interestingly, the suffix Croft, so often used for culs-de-sac 50 or so years ago is not mentioned.

Have a look at your own Council's website, the process will be explained in detail.

[roadtester]

For example Court and Close should only be used for culs-de-sac...

I live in a "Close" that is not a dead end but ultimately leads on to another street, although it does have a close-like feel to it and it's not an obvious through route.

At the same time, the "Close" has two proper closes (in the sense of dead ends) off it, each of which would arguably have their own street names in some other settings. And those two "sub-closes" have one and two further off-shoots respectively as well.

[Chris5156]

A circular form would actually be called a Circus and is relatively rare but there is in Bath an excellent example simply called The Circus
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.38596 ... !1e3?hl=en

In London you can find Ludgate Circus and Piccadilly Circus but they are not truly circular and the names seem to have come in to use in the 19th century.

There are several circular streets like this in Edinburgh's New Town - Moray Place is one and Royal Circus another.

In London several junctions are called "Circus", including the two you list, not because they are roundabout-like, but because the buildings at the corners were pushed back to make a sort of circular space in a pre-motor attempt to make more room for the streams of traffic crossing each other. At Ludgate Circus and Cambridge Circus you can still plainly see the buildings at the corners are arranged around a circular shape.

London also has Finsbury Circus, of course, which is another proper circular (or slightly oval) street with a park in the middle.

[Octaviadriver]

At the Hamlet level your address might simply be
No 4 Low Easby , North Yorkshire

where Low Easby is the name of both the road and settlement.

That's a gift compared to Glamorgan country houses. A village here has one postcode and town name, and then a house name. Invariably the house you've been sent to doesn't answer any of their phones so you just have to get lost/stuck in roads inappropriate for vans over and over until you find it. I've been known to stop and ask at the pub, only to embarrass myself upon realising our call centre can't spell Welsh names for toffee and nobody understands the place name I'm asking for as it's so wrong.

If you can't tell I hate working in the sticks.

I used to live in Llanddew near Brecon and the original village was situated on a crossroads with no street names and only house names to identify them, so they could be along any of the four roads from the centre. Anyone visiting or delivering would be given instruction on where to find me to alleviate any problems, especially as this is going back to pre internet or mobile phones.

There are a couple of developments on the edge of the village with new roads constructed, but these have street names and house numbers.

[RichardA626]

I remember trying to find a house in rural Wales with my Dad, which was named but the road wasn't which was too much for the sat-nav to cope with.

Some places have made an effort to avoid duplicate street names, in Stockport a few were re-named, sometimes by just changing the suffix. Some had a "late" sign put up to let people know of the change.

London had a big project for dealing with duplicated street names in the early 20th century, & similarly in places both names are still on the street signs.

[ANiceEnglishman]

Newport has a Queensway in the city centre and a Queen's Way in the eastern suburbs.

Swansea has a Fford Amazon leading to a warehouse occupied by the said online retailer. I'm not sure whether it has been adopted by the city council. If it hasn't, presumably the owner can call it whatever he wants, regardless of any restrictions on commercial connections.

I think Clevedon (Somerset) has just one Street (Old Street in the original town centre). All the 70s / 80s developments seem to be Drives, Ways etc with many one word names.

[Truvelo]

New Towns generally have a certain consistency for roads built as part of the original plans. For example Redditch uses highway for the main expressways, drive for local distributors and close for cul-de-sacs. This only applies to roads built from the early 70s to the late 80s. Roads built since then may or may not conform to this. Some cul-de-sacs are called lane instead of close.

[yen_powell]

In Stepney there is a road called Senrab Street. People in the future will spend much time giving all sorts of historical reasons or maybe try and find a Hindi or Bengali word that matches it. In fact a local landowner who already had a street named after him just reversed the letters of his name when they were trying to choose a name (The other street was Barnes Street).

[Bryn666]

New Towns generally have a certain consistency for roads built as part of the original plans. For example Redditch uses highway for the main expressways, drive for local distributors and close for cul-de-sacs. This only applies to roads built from the early 70s to the late 80s. Roads built since then may or may not conform to this. Some cul-de-sacs are called lane instead of close.

Skelmersdale doesn't bother for residential roads and just uses single words.

[Berk]

New Towns generally have a certain consistency for roads built as part of the original plans. For example Redditch uses highway for the main expressways, drive for local distributors and close for cul-de-sacs. This only applies to roads built from the early 70s to the late 80s. Roads built since then may or may not conform to this. Some cul-de-sacs are called lane instead of close.

Skelmersdale doesn't bother for residential roads and just uses single words.

So does Peterborough, mainly the Orton & Bretton townships (PE2/PE3).

Most of the Parkways end in... Parkway (but then have a crummy 4-digit number, go figure). Arterial roads are usually... Way (Bretton Way). The exception being Bourges Boulevard (A15 via City Centre).

[KeithW]

When a new road is built, the developer must notify the local authority of the proposed names (Public Health Act 1925, s17). The local authority then has to approve the name in accordance with its current guidelines. I believe there are national guidelines, so each authority's rules are broadly similar.

Essentially each road has to have unique, unambiguous name which can be quickly located by emergency services. Most authorities prefer names with a local connection, historically, geographically or culturally. Names should not be difficult to spell, awkward to pronounce, obscene or open to interpretation. Names should not have a commercial connection and names should not be duplicated within the same authority. At one time it was a common practice to use different suffixes to indicate a cul-de-sac off a through road, so you may have had Church Road, with Church Close and Church Grove leading from it. Most authorities would class this as a duplicated name.

There is also guidance on what suffixes are acceptable, and in what circumstances. For example Court and Close should only be used for culs-de-sac, Crescent should only be used for crescent shaped roads, Hill should only be used for a road on the side of hill - the list goes on. Interestingly, the suffix Croft, so often used for culs-de-sac 50 or so years ago is not mentioned.

Have a look at your own Council's website, the process will be explained in detail.

The trouble is local authorities are often the worst offenders, consider this council housing project.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.51914 ... ,18z?hl=en

There are several cul de sacs with the name Farmcote Court. Now they all have different numbers so the addresses are unique but finding the right one can be a nightmare for anyone who doesn't know the area especially as due to the high fences installed you often cannot see the house number from the road.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.51841 ... 6656?hl=en

In my experience councils are extremely varied in how vigorously these guidelines are applied and of course rules regarding names being unique within a local authority become meaningless the first time the boundaries are redrawn. I know of one house (the one I live in) which has been in 4 different local authority areas since it was built in the 70's

North Riding of Yorkshire
County Borough of Teesside
Cleveland County Council
Middlesbrough Council

The result Middlesbrough has a Cleveland Avenue, Cleveland Court and Cleveland Road all widely separated.

[jgharston]

North Yorkshire villages have some rather peculiar street names. As an example there are:
3 Sled Gates, Fylingthorpe

My mum's youngest sister used to live exactly opposite that exact address!

[Al__S]

one of the modern rules is that new street names are generally not allowed to include punctuation marks

[FosseWay]

Re Road vs Street - I have a feeling (it's no stronger than that) that "Roads" named after a place tend to lead/have led in the past to the named location, whereas "Streets" with geographical names have acquired their name for other reasons. Devonshire Street in Sheffield has nothing to do with the county hundreds of miles away, but everything to do with the Duke of Devonshire (Chatsworth isn't that far away). Same with Surrey Street and Arundel Gate in the same city (where "gate" is just Viking for "street"). But Fulwood Road, Ecclesall Road, London Road... all lead towards the places in question.

[trickstat]

The estate I drive through to or from my home is an interesting one. It has one main arterial road which is probably about a mile and a half long and actually loops back onto itself in what I think of as a distorted letter 'p' shape. For most of its length there are no postal addresses allocated to the road. Instead the addresses on the estate are allocated to various 'streets'* that run alphabetically off it. IIRC most of these are one word names and none have a suffix like Road, Close or Way.

*I think some of these 'streets' do not actually correspond to an individual actual road if you know what I mean.

[trickstat]

Re Road vs Street - I have a feeling (it's no stronger than that) that "Roads" named after a place tend to lead/have led in the past to the named location, whereas "Streets" with geographical names have acquired their name for other reasons. Devonshire Street in Sheffield has nothing to do with the county hundreds of miles away, but everything to do with the Duke of Devonshire (Chatsworth isn't that far away). Same with Surrey Street and Arundel Gate in the same city (where "gate" is just Viking for "street"). But Fulwood Road, Ecclesall Road, London Road... all lead towards the places in question.

Of course there are always exceptions - Fulham football ground is in Stevenage Road. However, it is only on the way to Stevenage in a very tenuous sense.

[trickstat]

Technically I would say there is a difference between a street and a road.

A street is something that postal addresses are allocated to.

A road is a thoroughfare for wheeled vehicles.

A named path with addresses on it may be considered a street but isn't a road.

A motorway is a road but not a street.

Of course, in general conversation, the terms are pretty much interchangeable.