Trivia: Road name changes

[LUYMun]

For many years, Watford had a short road that went down the side of the football stadium known as Stadium Way. Then in November 2023 this was changed to Yellow Brick Road, in honour of Sir Elton John, a supporter and former owner of Watford FC.

At Farnborough in Hampshire, there is also a residential road that has been called Holly Road for many years, but was initially known as Frog Lane due to it leading to the Cove Brook, where frogs used to breed. The name changed sometime in the 1930s for reasons unknown.

It got me thinking if there have been other examples of road name changes throughout the country over the years. It should make an interesting thread!

 

[Dai Corner]

Berlin Road in Bristol was renamed Britannia Road around the time we were having a disagreement with the country whose capital it was named after.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Warwick Road (alongside the Lancashire County Cricket Club ground in Old Trafford, Manchester) was renamed as 'Brian Statham Way' after the former cricketer had died in June 2000, just before his 70th birthday.

And not so far away, and near to the Manchester United football ground, the section of roadway previously known as Warwick Road North was renamed as 'Sir Matt Busby Way' in 1993, shortly before Sir Matt's death in Jan 1994.

 

[DelW]

In the 1980s, Camden Council renamed the former Selous Street in Camden Town to Mandela Street, honouring Nelson Mandela. This provoked something of a media furore at the time, though I doubt if many of the complainants realised just what a dismal little alleyway it was then*. (Google Streetview shows it to have been cleaned up and landscaped, now that the old warehouses have been converted into flats).

Selous Street was presumably named after Frederick Selous who had been associated with colonial rule in South Africa. He was a noted big-game hunter but was (by the standards of the time) something of a conservationist too. However the street was probably chosen for renaming because of the use of his name for the Selous Scouts, a controversial unit of the Rhodesian Army during the war of Zimbabwean independence.

(* I lived in the next road in the late 1980s.)

 

[W-on-Sea]

A curious football-related one is the road that Forest Green Rovers' stadium is on. When the ground was built, about 20 years ago, the road (itself also new, and with no other buildings on than the stadium) was called Smith's Way. Then a few years later Dale Vince took over the club and started to use it to promote his company and ecologist views, renaming the road "Another Way" to make the point that FGR were apparently not like other football clubs.

 

[Dai Corner]

A Bristol street which has, perhaps surprisingly, retained it's name is Colston Avenue. It is named after Edward Colston who was associated with the slave trade and whose statue was de-plinthed and dumped in the docks by demonstrators a few years ago. The eponymous concert hall, office tower block and school have all since been renamed.

 

[James H]

Part of Railway Approach at London Bridge Station was renamed Guildable Manor Street a few years back

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Chritchard Way in Taunton was formerly Lisieux Way Victoria Parkway, changed in around 2004-2006-ish.

Presumably the twinning agreement had expired or something. I never bothered to find out why it changed, or who or what Chritchard refers to.

 

[Bald Rick]

M10 >> A414

 

[Kite159]

One local road to me is a country lane which was called "Wallop Lane" but got renamed "Pond Lane" to celebrate a little village pond being done up to hold water with some landscaping & a pontoon built. This was going back 20odd years ago.

These days the pond still exists but is just overgrown with the pontoon collapsed.

 

[LUYMun]

I've also remembered there was a short footpath along the eastern end of Birdcage Walk in Scarborough that was renamed Savile's View in January 2012 in homage to the late Jimmy Savile. This was quickly reverted some months later when the sex offences arose.

 

[stuu]

Chritchard Way in Taunton was formerly Lisieux Way, changed in around 2004-2006-ish.

Presumably the twinning agreement had expired or something. I never bothered to find out why it changed, or who or what Chritchard refers to.

No it wasn't. It was previously called Victoria Parkway, in "honour" of the park it took a slice of. Lisieux Way is still there and unchanged, and still the twin town

No idea who Critchard was though

 

[Mcr Warrior]

No idea who Critchard was though

Might have been a nod to Colin Chritchard MBE, once secretary of Taunton and District Carnival Committee and a retired local government officer, who died in early April 2004, aged 75.

 

[DunsBus]

Edinburgh had a mass renaming in the late 1960s to eliminate duplicated street names brought about by the mergers with Portobello in 1896 and Leith in 1920.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

No it wasn't. It was previously called Victoria Parkway, in "honour" of the park it took a slice of. Lisieux Way is still there and unchanged, and still the twin town

No idea who Critchard was though

Thanks for the correction, my memory of what exactly changed is a little hazy after nearly two decades away from that neck of the woods!

 

[PeterC]

Edinburgh had a mass renaming in the late 1960s to eliminate duplicated street names brought about by the mergers with Portobello in 1896 and Leith in 1920.

That happened in London with the introduction of postal districts.

 

[341o2]

Black Boy Lane Haringey London N15 is now La Rose Lane after Caribbean born John La Rose.

Oxford has had numerous road renamings, here is a link to a 7 page pdf on the subject

https://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/streets/xtra/name_changes/name_changes.pdf

 

[Dr_Paul]

In the 1980s, Camden Council renamed the former Selous Street in Camden Town to Mandela Street, honouring Nelson Mandela. This provoked something of a media furore at the time, though I doubt if many of the complainants realised just what a dismal little alleyway it was then*. (Google Streetview shows it to have been cleaned up and landscaped, now that the old warehouses have been converted into flats).

Selous Street was presumably named after Frederick Selous who had been associated with colonial rule in South Africa. He was a noted big-game hunter but was (by the standards of the time) something of a conservationist too. However the street was probably chosen for renaming because of the use of his name for the Selous Scouts, a controversial unit of the Rhodesian Army during the war of Zimbabwean independence.

(* I lived in the next road in the late 1980s.)

Yes, the Selous Scouts were a part of the Rhodesian army and they had a particularly unpleasant reputation, details at Wikipedia here. I'm not usually in favour of changing street names, but I was quite happy with this one's renaming.

A puzzling one is in Kingston. Here are three snips from OS maps showing how the sensibly named Station Road became Ceres Road, and then Wood Street. Unlike some places where there is still a Station Road despite the closure of the town's station, Kingston station remains very much open and well used.

 

[SargeNpton]

At some stage between it being built in 1880 and the present day the spelling of my street has change from Argyll to Argyle (and Sand Hill Road has changed to Sandhill Road). On the left a modern map derived from the Ordnance Survey and on the right the 1889 equivalent.

I wonder when it happened and why. Was it an accidental change in the spelling or did the council have a deliberate review?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I wonder when it happened and why. Was it an accidental change in the spelling or did the council have a deliberate review?

Argyll Street in Northampton seems to have routinely been alternatively spelt as Argyle Street for the best part of 100+ years if old newspapers are anything to go by.

 

[Taunton]

Might have been a nod to Colin Chritchard MBE, once secretary of Taunton and District Carnival Committee and a retired local government officer, who died in early April 2004, aged 75.

Local Taunton family name, there are many around. I think the Mayor of Wellington is a Chritchard. Commonly mis-pronounced (and sometimes mis-spelt) as Pritchard. There's lots of those locally as well.

 

[geoffk]

While living in Durham in the 1970s, I occasionally visited the electric colliery railway which ran from Westoe Colliery, South Shields, to Harton Staithes and on one occasion got a ride on the loco.

While there I noticed several streets in Westoe named after composers - Spohr Terrace, Beethoven Street and Mozart Street - thinking this was an odd choice for rows of miners’ cottages in north-east England. From the on-line maps, I see that these streets still exist, although much of the housing has been replaced. I noted also a Handel Street, which I missed on my visits. The strange thing is that a 1915 map shows that Spohr Terrace was previously called Mendelssohn Road. The current name was in use by 1956 but why was it renamed? As a musician, I was aware that, during his lifetime, Spohr once had a reputation equal to that of the others mentioned although the building date of these streets must have been some years after his death.

I had some correspondence with South Tynedale Council and was told that in the early 1900s the previous council had a policy of telling builders to choose street names based on a common theme (no pun intended) - and in this case it was composers. It seems that naming had become a bit chaotic and an attempt was made to tidy it up so that, for example, Westoe Rd was given one name instead of ten.

Perhaps a Forum member from the South Shields area will know more!

 

[Dr_Paul]

Quite a few street names associated with Germany were renamed during the First World War; Battenberg Road in Richmond became Windsor Road. Leipsic [Leipzig] Road in Camberwell became Comber Grove, but Blucher Road remained unchanged, as did the Blucher pub in Twickenham, presumably because Marshal Blücher's Prussian forces were on the same side as Britain during the war against Napoleon's France.

Strangely enough, Adolf Street, on the 1920s estate in Bellingham, did not get changed during the Second World War. It was, however, narrowly missed by a Luftwaffe bomb.

 

[Mr. SW]

There are occasionally other reasons to rename streets...

 

[Dr_Paul]

There are occasionally other reasons to rename streets...
View attachment 157378

The renaming of Fanny Road has caused considerable amusement on various Barnes and Mortlake FB pages. Several lads at my secondary school went to Fanny Road Junior School. The amusing thing is that its name survived through to the prurient decades of the 1900s, and was only changed in the far more relaxed latter towards the end of the century.

 

[PeterC]

At some stage between it being built in 1880 and the present day the spelling of my street has change from Argyll to Argyle (and Sand Hill Road has changed to Sandhill Road). On the left a modern map derived from the Ordnance Survey and on the right the 1889 equivalent.

I wonder when it happened and why. Was it an accidental change in the spelling or did the council have a deliberate review?

I have occasionally noticed discrepancies between the local authority and Royal Mail versions of a street name

 

[Fenchurch SP]

One rail related change is Cannon Street in London. The name evolved from Candlewick or Candlewright Street so nothing to do with the weapon.

 

[The exile]

Edinburgh had a mass renaming in the late 1960s to eliminate duplicated street names brought about by the mergers with Portobello in 1896 and Leith in 1920

Presumably The Queen's Drive (circling the Queen's Park / Arthur's Seat) has been The King's Drive (circling the King's Park) again since 2022 as it is in fact a description rather than a name.

 

[Statto]

The road from the M53 at Bidston Moss through Kingsway (Wallasey) Tunnel to Liverpool used to be A5139, then got reclassified to A59 a few years ago

 

[DunsBus]

Presumably The Queen's Drive (circling the Queen's Park / Arthur's Seat) has been The King's Drive (circling the King's Park) again since 2022 as it is in fact a description rather than a name.

The Queen's Drive was built during the reign of Queen Victoria and named after her, so keeps its name though we now have a King. The King's Park/Queen's Park, however, does change its name depending on the gender of the reigning monarch.