House numbers that jump

The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.

There is a separate forum for Street Furniture (traffic lights, street lights, road signs etc).

Registered users get access to other forums including discussions about other forms of transport, driving, fantasy roads and wishlists, and roads quizzes.

Moderator: Site Management Team

User avatar
Vierwielen
Member
Posts: 5674
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 21:21
Location: Hampshire

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Vierwielen »

RJDG14 wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 19:37
swissferry wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 19:18
RJDG14 wrote: Mon Dec 20, 2021 22:19 To my knowledge there is no 13 in my street, although it is listed wrongly on Google Maps. The last house in my street is numbered 21 but in reality there are only 20 homes. I don't really understand why it's harder for developers to sell homes numbered 13 when to me, it's just a number. In the case of my street the numbers jump from 12 to 14 but I believe a few streets have a home numbered 12A.
What I've read on the topic mostly suggests houses numbered 13 sell for around 10% less. There was a tabloid article which suggests they may sell for more. It also notes that lower numbers sell for more than higher numbers which makes me think survey was simply looking at cost vs house number without taking into account size, location, etc.
I would base house size (when it comes to pricing) around the total number of square feet/metres, which seems commonplace in most countries other than the UK, where the number of rooms still seems to dominate.
I have also noticed that continental countries include the property size more frequently than do their British counterparts. For example, see here (a property that I have chosen at random from an English-language site).
User avatar
Vierwielen
Member
Posts: 5674
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 21:21
Location: Hampshire

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Vierwielen »

Chris Bertram wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 21:52 I guess speculative numbering can apply elsewhere, c.f. A1(M) junction numbering between Dishforth and Barton, where fewer junctions were deemed necessary than originally planned so we jump from 53 at Scotch Corner to 56 at Barton.
In 2005 a rather spectacular renumberering occured on tha A16 in France. When the road was first built, Junction 1 of the A16 was in Boulogne-sur-Mer with junction numbers increasing towards the Belgian border. (When I have taken my car across the Channel, I usually head northwards along that route and into Belgium). They then decided to extend the A16 to Paris. Building started at the southern end and teh two sections were linked up in 1998 but it took seven years to redo the junction numbering with the old J1 becoming the new J29.
LoopyUpholland
Banned
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2021 17:11

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by LoopyUpholland »

A friend of mine lives on a road with two missing numbers. Number 2 is missing, perhaps due to alterations to the end of the road. Number 84 is also missing...we cannot fathom why that one's omitted as the entire street was built roughly at the same time.
User avatar
chaseracer
Member
Posts: 236
Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2014 15:46
Location: 127.0.0.1

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by chaseracer »

My parents live in the penultimate odd-numbered house in their road. The numbering is sequential as far as 99, then jumps to 117, 119 and 121. Never have discovered why.
User avatar
Big Nick
Member
Posts: 4355
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 08:27
Location: Epping, Essex

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Big Nick »

The top end of my road has some gaps but I'm not sure how it all developed. There's a set of 1930s semis that are numbered 9-25. Before them was a garage on the High Street and a local government office block, these were demolished 20-35 years ago for a Tesco.
Presumably the office block was numbered 1-7 xxx Road.

On the other side there was a 1930s GPO Telephone Exchange which went 15 years ago and is now a block of flats. Then the houses start from no.10, but a smaller house has been built in between which might be number 8. There may have been houses on the site before the GPO moved in.

In a few years there will be a new block of flats halfway down the road which won't have a street number.
TS
Member
Posts: 611
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 17:18
Location: Bournemouth

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by TS »

Wimborne Road in Bournemouth reaches the dizzy heights of 1712 (even) and 1823 (odd) at Bear Cross, but cheats to get that high.

At Cemetery Junction, there is a long physical gap in the odd numbers where the cemetery is. Yet, surprisingly, no numbers are omitted. The Pavilion Arms (previously Dean Park Inn) is no.41, then the junction, then the long cemetery wall, then no.43 just before Stokewood Road.

This therefore makes it even more surprising that there is a big jump at the start of the Winton shops here.

The evens side has no.82, followed by Stirling Road, then the surgery is 272 and the first shops 274 and upwards.
The odds side has no.91, then St Luke's Road with St Luke's church on the corner, then the first shops are 293 and upwards.

There is certainly not a sufficient gap to explain it through some realignment or demolition/rebuild or whatever.

Right up in Moordown through to Kinson until the mid-20th century, houses were named rather than numbered, so it is only in the last 70-odd years that the really high numbers have existed.

===

The same is true of Bournemouth's other long thoroughfare, Christchurch Road, which starts at the Lansdowne and ends at Iford Roundabout with nos.1362 and 1365 at each corner.

At Boscombe Chine Gardens there is an even more unexpected jump - from 63 to 443 on the odds side and 70 to 428 on the evens.
TS
Member
Posts: 611
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 17:18
Location: Bournemouth

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by TS »

Incidentally, Northbourne Place in Bournemouth contains one house.

It is number 2.
User avatar
Big L
Deputy Site Manager
Posts: 7517
Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2010 20:36
Location: B5012

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Big L »

A road near home has evens on one side (2-180, no gaps) and odds on the other (1-31, no number 13). So that's 90 addresses on one side and 15 on the other. Quite the imbalance.
Make poetry history.

Did you know there's more to SABRE than just the Forums?
Help with maps using the new online calibrator.
Add your roads knowledge to the SABRE Wiki.
TS
Member
Posts: 611
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 17:18
Location: Bournemouth

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by TS »

LoopyUpholland wrote: Wed Dec 22, 2021 11:04 A friend of mine lives on a road with two missing numbers. Number 2 is missing, perhaps due to alterations to the end of the road. Number 84 is also missing...we cannot fathom why that one's omitted as the entire street was built roughly at the same time.
We have a similar road. Bungalows and all built around the same time. But there is a missing 48 (or 50, can't remember) midway along.

Once, while walking the dog, the lady next door was at her front gate and I asked her if she knew why. She said that, while they were all built at the same time, the original plan was for three bungalows on that plot but, in the end, two slightly larger ones were built.
User avatar
explo
Member
Posts: 443
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2006 21:59
Location: Bangor
Contact:

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by explo »

The oddest layout of numbers I've seen was in a cul de sac that roughly formed a circle. It ran 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 around the left side and 8, 6, 4, 2 around the right side meaning that 9 and 2 were beside each other.
Darren
Member
Posts: 201
Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 11:33

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Darren »

My area has one of the strangest setups you'll find.

Back in 1965, the houses and bungalows all had names:

Image

Not long after most of the roads were numbered. Some houses escaped the numbering though and since then additional ones have been built (in-fill, plus building on the pub's beer garden).

Image

That means Cliff View Gardens, for example, only has numbers 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16 ad 18.

You can also see that the Leysdown Road at the bottom has its numbering issues too!
Graham
Member
Posts: 287
Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2002 12:37

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Graham »

swissferry wrote: Tue Dec 21, 2021 19:18 What I've read on the topic mostly suggests houses numbered 13 sell for around 10% less. There was a tabloid article which suggests they may sell for more. It also notes that lower numbers sell for more than higher numbers which makes me think survey was simply looking at cost vs house number without taking into account size, location, etc.
I suspect that this is a variant of Simpson's Paradox. If it is generally true that estates lacking a number 13 are cheaper in price than the national average (which would fit, for example, with the case described upthread of number 13s being left out of starter home estates), then it is entirely possible for both of your above statements to be true.
timbucks
Member
Posts: 1844
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2006 14:36
Location: North Buckinghamshire

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by timbucks »

On Western Road in Bletchley they are mainly old build houses and the numbers are in an obvious order 1, 3, 5... up to 131, then there is a row of 4 new houses covering 133-139 before the old houses continue from 141. That seems normal but for some reason the new builds are reversed so the numbers go 131, 139, 137, 135, 133, 141 :shock:
A fine is a tax for the naughty, tax is a fine for the good!
User avatar
RichardA626
Member
Posts: 7809
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 22:19
Location: Stockport
Contact:

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by RichardA626 »

Some very old roads seemed to number one side of the road with consecutive numbers from 1, with the numbering continuing backward on the other side.

My Aunt & Uncle lived in a house in a rural area which was on a short close which had it's own name, but the numbering was from the main road.

Compstall has a strange numbering system where the whole village originally had one set of numbers, with each house having a unique number
Beware of the trickster on the roof
swissferry
Member
Posts: 319
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 20:42

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by swissferry »

RichardA626 wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 22:15 Compstall has a strange numbering system where the whole village originally had one set of numbers, with each house having a unique number
Crofting township are like this as well. Often the roads aren't named and although the crofts are generally numbered consecutively access may be from different ends (e.g. a parallel road). Where there are two properties on a croft the second may be suffixed with an "a" and accessed from the other road.
User avatar
Chris Bertram
Member
Posts: 15744
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2001 12:30
Location: Birmingham, England

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Chris Bertram »

RichardA626 wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 22:15 Some very old roads seemed to number one side of the road with consecutive numbers from 1, with the numbering continuing backward on the other side.
Not always very old. The close we lived in in Guisborough, a 1970’s build, was numbered thus, though there were only 9 houses. There was no possibility of extension, the main road was in the way.
“The quality of any advice anybody has to offer has to be judged against the quality of life they actually lead.” - Douglas Adams.

Did you know there's more to SABRE than just the Forums?
Add your roads knowledge to the SABRE Wiki today!
Have you browsed SABRE Maps recently? Try getting involved!
User avatar
Euan
Member
Posts: 1851
Joined: Mon Jan 01, 2018 07:59
Location: North Ayrshire

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Euan »

The houses on my cul-de-sac were mostly built in the late 90s with an additional "wing" (rather, an extension of a side road) added around the mid to late 00s as I recall. The highest numbered house has always been 45 marking where the "odd" side meets 44 at the end of the "even" side. Before the side road was extended the "odd" side house numbers jumped from 17 to 27 - there was no 19, 21, 23 or 25. Clearly this did acknowledge that more houses were intended to be built in order to fill this numbering gap. However, an additional 8 houses were built as part of the 00s project and were numbered 19, 19A, 21, 21A, 23, 23A, 25 and 25A. That does make me wonder whether when the original project was under construction the intention was to fill the gap later filled by 8 houses with just 4 houses but perhaps they had to abandon this segment due to a budget cut or lack of funds somewhere down the line. It could be the case that the newer houses were built within an entirely separate project rather than being the "finishing touches" of the original one.
E-roads, M-roads, A-roads, N-roads, B-roads, R-roads, C-roads, L-roads, U-roads, footpaths
User avatar
Was92now625
Member
Posts: 848
Joined: Fri Jan 08, 2010 00:29
Location: near A625

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by Was92now625 »

Euan wrote: Sat Dec 25, 2021 08:35 The houses on my cul-de-sac were mostly built in the late 90s with an additional "wing" (rather, an extension of a side road) added around the mid to late 00s as I recall.
I am in a similarly divided cul-de-sac. No real anomalies but it does result in one 'wing' being odds and a few evens while the other wing is all even.
KevS
Member
Posts: 88
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2006 21:08
Location: Norwich

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by KevS »

St John's Road in Ipswich is a classic of the genre. The even side goes up to 14, there's then a side road, and the numbering continues from 68 immediately on the other side. It should also be notices that Nos 10-14 are relatively new build, built when the side road, Masons Close, was built not that long ago. I think before that it was just open ground, but there is no way that the gap between 8 and 68 could be filled there. There was no side road, nothing. You'd be looking at another 30 properties to squeeze in.
It's a ticket to plastic death
User avatar
gepree68
Member
Posts: 852
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2002 13:12
Location: Bristol, UK

Re: House numbers that jump

Post by gepree68 »

Along Northover Road, from east to west on the left-hand side, the numbers go 130, 128, 126, ..., 26, 24 and then 22. But then there are no more even numbers. 22 is the lowest.

When building the road did they start numbering from high to low, and someone miscalculated how many numbers they would need?

And is that why there is no house with number 20, 18, 16, ..., 6, 4 or 2?
Post Reply