Highest house number within London

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trickstat
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by trickstat »

RichardA626 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 22:14 I remember my Dad mentioning there was a road in Watford that went into 4 figures.
That would be St Albans Road which I think edges over 1000.
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by Piatkow »

c2R wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:33
Glen wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:21 And more "stupid places to change a road name", one I found when looking for addresses there last year.
Now that is a good topic...

Apton Road, Bishops Stortford manages to escape termination at a roundabout and continue in a different direction... it then continues past cemetary road and then becomes Scott Road, half way between Cemetary Road and Fairlands... it simply doesn't make any sense.

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 18&layer=0
You need to verify things like that on the ground or with StreetView. Shifting the point where street names change is one of the copyright traps they put on maps.

Looking at an ABC map I was thoroughly confused as I couldn't pick the site of the house were I spent my earliest years. A quick virtual journey on Google checking the street name plates showed that the names changed at a crossroad not at the illogical point that the map showed.
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by Octaviadriver »

c2R wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:33
Glen wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:21 And more "stupid places to change a road name", one I found when looking for addresses there last year.
Now that is a good topic...

Apton Road, Bishops Stortford manages to escape termination at a roundabout and continue in a different direction... it then continues past cemetary road and then becomes Scott Road, half way between Cemetary Road and Fairlands... it simply doesn't make any sense.

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 18&layer=0
This one in Brecon often causes confusion. The B4601 westbound from the town starts off as Bridge Street, then becomes Orchard Street before it changes again to Newgate Street, all in the space of ¾ mile.
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by c2R »

Piatkow wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 08:49
c2R wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:33
Glen wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:21 And more "stupid places to change a road name", one I found when looking for addresses there last year.
Now that is a good topic...

Apton Road, Bishops Stortford manages to escape termination at a roundabout and continue in a different direction... it then continues past cemetary road and then becomes Scott Road, half way between Cemetary Road and Fairlands... it simply doesn't make any sense.

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 18&layer=0
You need to verify things like that on the ground or with StreetView. Shifting the point where street names change is one of the copyright traps they put on maps.
I certainly did for the Stortford one - I was adding POIs to OSM and spent some time looking at the house numbers before eventually figuring out that the street randomly changed name!
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by M4Simon »

c2R wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:26
Piatkow wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 08:49
c2R wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:33

Now that is a good topic...

Apton Road, Bishops Stortford manages to escape termination at a roundabout and continue in a different direction... it then continues past cemetary road and then becomes Scott Road, half way between Cemetary Road and Fairlands... it simply doesn't make any sense.

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 18&layer=0
You need to verify things like that on the ground or with StreetView. Shifting the point where street names change is one of the copyright traps they put on maps.
I certainly did for the Stortford one - I was adding POIs to OSM and spent some time looking at the house numbers before eventually figuring out that the street randomly changed name!
I lived at the top of Newtown Road for a while in the early 90s. I had a friend who lived in one of the first houses in Scott Road and I didn't realise that Apton Road carried on beyond the roundabout. However, Streetview shows a sign that proves you are right! Clicking back in time shows it's only been there a couple of years.

Looking at the architecture of 156-160 Apton Road, the houses are of the same style as those elsewhere on the road, and very different from those in Scott Road. In the town where they re-named Council Road to Wayletts Drive, I suspect that the residents didn't want to be associated with the (probably newer) Council houses next door.

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Re: Highest house number within London

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I grew up at 769 Eastern Avenue, Newbury Park (A12). A girl in my class at school lived further down on the other side of the road at 1128.

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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by jgharston »

I spent my off-time over the last year driving around the Esk Valley tracking down road names (and house names) to proof read the electoral register. There are loads of places where maps, council documents, and reality on the ground don't match up, eg:
Ellerby Lane?
East Barnby Lane?
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by RichardA626 »

Glen wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:15
RichardA626 wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 22:14 Stockport Road in Levenshulme - Longsight certainly gets into the thousands.
Stockport rd.PNG
The road name and building numbers there change arbitrarily at the local authority boundary, so there's the illogical situation of buildings opposite each other being numbered as part of different roads.
Thanks what is the source of the map?
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by doebag »

Our current house does not have a number, it is registered with Royal Mail by it's name. However every other house in the road is numbered. Depending what database is looked at, we are either top of the list before Number 1, or last after number 102.

Where I was born and grew up was numbered 102, but some time later while we still lived there we were renumbered to 157. Not sure why, but it postdated the formation of the GLC in 1965 by a number of years.
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by KeithW »

Well we have a rather odd situation on our street which was built in the 1950's. When the developer bought the land there was one holdout who owned an orchard and wouldnt sell at any price. a number (32) was set aside but when the owner died and his heirs sold up it was realise that the plot was too large for one bungalow so two were built in the 1970's. Mine is number 32 and my neighbours is 32A which causes no end of confusion.
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by the cheesecake man »

c2R wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 23:33 Apton Road, Bishops Stortford manages to escape termination at a roundabout and continue in a different direction... it then continues past cemetary road and then becomes Scott Road, half way between Cemetary Road and Fairlands... it simply doesn't make any sense.

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... 18&layer=0
Is it possible that the roundabout was added after the road was named and at the time the name changed at one minor junction rather than another?

There's a few roads in Sheffield where the name continues past an obvious junction with the Inner Ring Road and changes at a minor junction or even an ex-junction nearby.

Eg Ecclesall Road turns into Moore Street not at the roundabout but at the slight left bend where Twinkl is shown and Bahn Thai's address is 1 Ecclesall Road.
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Re: Highest house number within London

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KeithW wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:17 Well we have a rather odd situation on our street which was built in the 1950's. When the developer bought the land there was one holdout who owned an orchard and wouldnt sell at any price. a number (32) was set aside but when the owner died and his heirs sold up it was realise that the plot was too large for one bungalow so two were built in the 1970's. Mine is number 32 and my neighbours is 32A which causes no end of confusion.
This is a typical British problem - if a property is split into two, one part retains the original number and the other has an "A" appended to it. Fortunately my two kids do not have this problem. My son owns a flat that occupies the top floor floor of a 3-story Victorian house, formerly No 45. The three flats are 45a, 45b and 45c.

In my view, if a property is subdivided, the original number should be "retired" and each property should have the original number with a "A", "B", "C" etc as a suffix. Thus, my previous house was part of large Victorian property that had been converted intio a pair of semis. The original property was No 46, but the two new properties are now No 46 and No 46A which can cause problems is somebody uses shoddy software to hold addresses and the software can only accept numberic data for the house number - post for 46A can easily end up at No 46.
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Re: Highest house number within London

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Vierwielen wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 18:26 In my view, if a property is subdivided, the original number should be "retired" and each property should have the original number with a "A", "B", "C" etc as a suffix. Thus, my previous house was part of large Victorian property that had been converted intio a pair of semis. The original property was No 46, but the two new properties are now No 46 and No 46A which can cause problems is somebody uses shoddy software to hold addresses and the software can only accept numberic data for the house number - post for 46A can easily end up at No 46.
I remember seeing a house in Arbroath with number 47 1/2 (forty seven and a half).

https://www.instantstreetview.com/@56.5 ... DRcUQwFPaw I think. I can't quite magnify it enough to check.
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Re: Highest house number within London

Post by doebag »

Vierwielen wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 18:26
KeithW wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:17 Well we have a rather odd situation on our street which was built in the 1950's. When the developer bought the land there was one holdout who owned an orchard and wouldnt sell at any price. a number (32) was set aside but when the owner died and his heirs sold up it was realise that the plot was too large for one bungalow so two were built in the 1970's. Mine is number 32 and my neighbours is 32A which causes no end of confusion.
This is a typical British problem - if a property is split into two, one part retains the original number and the other has an "A" appended to it. Fortunately my two kids do not have this problem. My son owns a flat that occupies the top floor floor of a 3-story Victorian house, formerly No 45. The three flats are 45a, 45b and 45c.

In my view, if a property is subdivided, the original number should be "retired" and each property should have the original number with a "A", "B", "C" etc as a suffix. Thus, my previous house was part of large Victorian property that had been converted intio a pair of semis. The original property was No 46, but the two new properties are now No 46 and No 46A which can cause problems is somebody uses shoddy software to hold addresses and the software can only accept numberic data for the house number - post for 46A can easily end up at No 46.
I'd agre totally with that. If a small row of terraced houses are built on a plot where a single house stood, they get numbered 1A/1B/1C etc. It should be the same if the existing house is divided up.
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Re: Highest house number within London

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KeithW wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:17 Well we have a rather odd situation on our street which was built in the 1950's. When the developer bought the land there was one holdout who owned an orchard and wouldnt sell at any price. a number (32) was set aside but when the owner died and his heirs sold up it was realise that the plot was too large for one bungalow so two were built in the 1970's. Mine is number 32 and my neighbours is 32A which causes no end of confusion.
In a road near me two neighbouring houses were very widely spaced, one having a very big bit of garden at the side. Owner of the house with this big garden got planning permission for a house on the plot between his house and his neighbour's. When the new house was built between them it was allocated an A suffix to the other neighbour's number. He wasn't happy, but as that was the direction the numbers in the road ran, rules is rules. But I suppose the new house could have been renumbered to the number of the original house (in which garden it was built), and the existing house given the A suffix...if the other owner had pushed hard enough.
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Re: Highest house number within London

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Vierwielen wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 18:26
This is a typical British problem - if a property is split into two, one part retains the original number and the other has an "A" appended to it. Fortunately my two kids do not have this problem. My son owns a flat that occupies the top floor floor of a 3-story Victorian house, formerly No 45. The three flats are 45a, 45b and 45c.

In my view, if a property is subdivided, the original number should be "retired" and each property should have the original number with a "A", "B", "C" etc as a suffix. Thus, my previous house was part of large Victorian property that had been converted intio a pair of semis. The original property was No 46, but the two new properties are now No 46 and No 46A which can cause problems is somebody uses shoddy software to hold addresses and the software can only accept numberic data for the house number - post for 46A can easily end up at No 46.
These were both new properties plonked down in a plot that may have been normal size for 1951 but the frontage for each is 14 m wide and the length is 37 m. As built they were identical twins.
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Re: Highest house number within London

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doebag wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 20:11 I'd agre totally with that. If a small row of terraced houses are built on a plot where a single house stood, they get numbered 1A/1B/1C etc. It should be the same if the existing house is divided up.
Who decides ? If it is the authorities, there SHOULD be a measure of consistency. If it is the individuals, I'd not expect much consistency.
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Re: Highest house number within London

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The house next door to us is No 69 (stop sniggering at the back), but the bottom of of the garden was sold off ages ago, before we moved in to our house. The bungalow that occupies this plot, with a long drive between No 69 and ourselves to access it, is not No 69a, nor No 71a, but No 69b. There is no 69a, and No 69 remains plain old No 69.
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Re: Highest house number within London

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doebag wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 20:11
Vierwielen wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 18:26
KeithW wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:17 Well we have a rather odd situation on our street which was built in the 1950's. When the developer bought the land there was one holdout who owned an orchard and wouldnt sell at any price. a number (32) was set aside but when the owner died and his heirs sold up it was realise that the plot was too large for one bungalow so two were built in the 1970's. Mine is number 32 and my neighbours is 32A which causes no end of confusion.
This is a typical British problem - if a property is split into two, one part retains the original number and the other has an "A" appended to it. Fortunately my two kids do not have this problem. My son owns a flat that occupies the top floor floor of a 3-story Victorian house, formerly No 45. The three flats are 45a, 45b and 45c.

In my view, if a property is subdivided, the original number should be "retired" and each property should have the original number with a "A", "B", "C" etc as a suffix. Thus, my previous house was part of large Victorian property that had been converted intio a pair of semis. The original property was No 46, but the two new properties are now No 46 and No 46A which can cause problems is somebody uses shoddy software to hold addresses and the software can only accept numberic data for the house number - post for 46A can easily end up at No 46.
I'd agre totally with that. If a small row of terraced houses are built on a plot where a single house stood, they get numbered 1A/1B/1C etc. It should be the same if the existing house is divided up.
I think if a new property is built in between existing houses, there is something to be said for keeping the existing property as XX with the infill being XXA, as the occupants of the existing property won't need to change their address with all the attendant admin issues.
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Re: Highest house number within London

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Was92now625 wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 22:24
doebag wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 20:11 I'd agre totally with that. If a small row of terraced houses are built on a plot where a single house stood, they get numbered 1A/1B/1C etc. It should be the same if the existing house is divided up.
Who decides ? If it is the authorities, there SHOULD be a measure of consistency. If it is the individuals, I'd not expect much consistency.
The local authority ultimately decides, although I think the Royal Mail can advise/veto if they foresee problems. I think most local authorities tend to avoid approving addresses that the Royal Mail might veto because of potential confusion. Different local authorities might have slightly different practices on numbering. For example, some don't let developers skip the number 13, while some do, while another might allow them to use something like 12A instead.
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