Who names new roads?

In article <uV+qwE7Cm6sIFAvc@perry.co.uk>, roland@perry.co.uk (Roland
Perry) wrote:

> In message <sed6b4dkad443jd7tdde74r0hufa05vksj@>, at
> 23:48:17 on Mon, 25 Aug 2008, Alasdair <mail@bobaxter.coo.uk>
> remarked:
> >I have come across several cases where roads have been named by
> >developers. There is a street in Grimsby called Thorgam Court named
> >after the builders Thornber and Gammon.
>
> There's a Docwra's Close next to Shepreth Station. Pronounce that!

No harder than "Gwydir".

> >There are two streets in Ballachulish called Elizabeth Terrace and
> >Angus Terrace called after the developer's parents.
>
> If you are allowing that kind of "naming after", then many of the
> Victorian roads in West Bridgford are apparently named after the
> developer's relatives... Albert, Florence, Mabel, Violet, Edward,
> George, Henry, Millicent etc.

Ah! The Street family! Like Albert, George and Herbert in Chesterton, for
example.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Roland Perry wrote:
> In message <sed6b4dkad443jd7tdde74r0hufa05vksj@>, at 23:48:17
> on Mon, 25 Aug 2008, Alasdair <mail@bobaxter.coo.uk> remarked:
>> I have come across several cases where roads have been named by
>> developers. There is a street in Grimsby called Thorgam Court named
>> after the builders Thornber and Gammon.
>
> There's a Docwra's Close next to Shepreth Station.

And Docwra's Buildings in N1.

>> There are two streets in Ballachulish called Elizabeth Terrace and
>> Angus Terrace called after the developer's parents.
>
> If you are allowing that kind of "naming after", then many of the
> Victorian roads in West Bridgford are apparently named after the
> developer's relatives... Albert, Florence, Mabel, Violet, Edward,
> George, Henry, Millicent etc.

The ladder between Elsiemaud Rd and Phoebeth Rd are all portmanteaux of two
names - it hadn't occurred to me that they might be real people.

On 24 Aug, 23:52, "Richard J." <rjnews0...@blueukder.co.yon> wrote:
> Nick Leverton wrote:
> > In article
> > <15f20572-c4fc-4343-b23b-db1812df9...@8g2000hse..com>,
> > Jon  <jonathan.gur...@wlc.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> >> the silly tendency [towards] road names with no suffix at all,
> >> making ordinary suburban streets sound as if they are rural hamlets
> >> too small to have street names as such.
>
> > Or alternatively as if they are in the dodgier estates of Bracknell !
>
> Or alternatively as if they are in central London, such as Piccadilly,
> Strand, Poultry, Kingsway, Queensway, Holborn, Cheapside, Cornhill,
> Houndsditch, Millbank.
>

Those are mainly 'evolved' names with historical reasons for their
lack of suffix, not spurious ones invented by a marketer.

Jon wrote:
> On 24 Aug, 23:52, "Richard J." <rjnews0...@blueukder.co.yon> wrote:
>> Nick Leverton wrote:
>>> In article
>>> <15f20572-c4fc-4343-b23b-db1812df9...@8g2000hse..com>,
>>> Jon <jonathan.gur...@wlc.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>> the silly tendency [towards] road names with no suffix at all,
>>>> making ordinary suburban streets sound as if they are rural hamlets
>>>> too small to have street names as such.
>>> Or alternatively as if they are in the dodgier estates of Bracknell !
>> Or alternatively as if they are in central London, such as Piccadilly,
>> Strand, Poultry, Kingsway, Queensway, Holborn, Cheapside, Cornhill,
>> Houndsditch, Millbank.
>>
>
> Those are mainly 'evolved' names with historical reasons for their
> lack of suffix, not spurious ones invented by a marketer.
>
And in the case of most of them, effectively they have suffixes - King's
Way, Queen's Way, Cheap Side, Corn Hill, Hound's Ditch, Mill Bank.

Peter Beale

In message <memo.20080826093034.776v@cam002297.rosenstiel.co. uk>, at
09:30:00 on Tue, 26 Aug 2008, Colin Rosenstiel <rosenstiel@cix.co.uk>
remarked:
>> There's a Docwra's Close next to Shepreth Station. Pronounce that!
>
>No harder than "Gwydir".

I can have a stab at "Gwydir" (perhaps to rhyme with "why-dear", or is
it "wider"), but "Docwra" seems superficially unpronounceable as there's
a middle vowel missing; "Doc-wer-ah" maybe, or is it "doe-cur-uh"
--
Roland Perry

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008, Colin Rosenstiel wrote:

> In article <uV+qwE7Cm6sIFAvc@perry.co.uk>, roland@perry.co.uk (Roland
> Perry) wrote:
>
>> In message <sed6b4dkad443jd7tdde74r0hufa05vksj@>, at
>> 23:48:17 on Mon, 25 Aug 2008, Alasdair <mail@bobaxter.coo.uk>
>> remarked:
>>> I have come across several cases where roads have been named by
>>> developers. There is a street in Grimsby called Thorgam Court named
>>> after the builders Thornber and Gammon.
>>
>> There's a Docwra's Close next to Shepreth Station. Pronounce that!
>
> No harder than "Gwydir".

Well, exactly.

>>> There are two streets in Ballachulish called Elizabeth Terrace and
>>> Angus Terrace called after the developer's parents.
>>
>> If you are allowing that kind of "naming after", then many of the
>> Victorian roads in West Bridgford are apparently named after the
>> developer's relatives... Albert, Florence, Mabel, Violet, Edward,
>> George, Henry, Millicent etc.
>
> Ah! The Street family! Like Albert, George and Herbert in Chesterton,
> for example.

All cousins of Miss Elizabeth Way, i believe.

Speaking of Chesterton, why is there a cluster of caledonian streets
there? There's Scotland Road, Edinburgh Road, Kinross Road, Inverness
Close, Stirling Close. The road layout makes me think that Scotland Road
is quite old, but that the other ones, which are branches off it, are
newer; the houses on them are certainly all brand spanking new. My guess
would be that Scotland Road was built many years ago, and named that for
some reason, and then the new estate was built recently, and the names
chosen as a riff on the parent road.

tom

--
MADSKILLZ!

Roland Perry <roland@perry.co.uk> wrote in
news:YTQHRHp4wYsIFAIV@perry.co.uk:

> I'm not sure that's the case. The builders often give developments such
> fancy names, which are then ignored by the council with much more
> prosaic names.

We had an office once in a new street the developer called Online Boulevard
-- but the council renamed Station Approach. This was reasonable enough as
it is a road to Leatherhead station. However, the road to the other side
of the station was -- and still is -- also called Station Approach, which
caused some confusion, and a nearby road which once led to a different
station is called Old Station Approach.

We didn't fancy 'Online Boulevard' (despite being an IT company), but
something a little more creative might have helped.

Peter

--
Peter Campbell Smith ~ London ~ pjcs00 (a)

In article <t8N6KgCM89sIFAcM@perry.co.uk>, roland@perry.co.uk (Roland
Perry) wrote:

> In message <memo.20080826093034.776v@cam002297.rosenstiel.co. uk>,
> at 09:30:00 on Tue, 26 Aug 2008, Colin Rosenstiel
> <rosenstiel@cix.co.uk> remarked:
> >> There's a Docwra's Close next to Shepreth Station. Pronounce that!
> >
> >No harder than "Gwydir".
>
> I can have a stab at "Gwydir" (perhaps to rhyme with "why-dear", or
> is it "wider"),

In Cambridge it rhymes with "wider".

> but "Docwra" seems superficially unpronounceable as
> there's a middle vowel missing; "Doc-wer-ah" maybe, or is it
> "doe-cur-uh"

You amaze me. I've know that name since I were a lad in London
(builders'?) and I've always thought of it as "DockWRa" or "DockRa".

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message <Pine.LNX.4.64.0808261153140.10664@urchin.earth.li >, at
11:59:31 on Tue, 26 Aug 2008, Tom Anderson <twic@urchin.earth.li>
remarked:
>>> There's a Docwra's Close next to Shepreth Station. Pronounce that!
>>
>> No harder than "Gwydir".
>
>Well, exactly.

Care to enlighten us on your preferred pronunciations?
--
Roland Perry

In message <memo.20080826124337.776C@cam002297.rosenstiel.co. uk>, at
12:43:00 on Tue, 26 Aug 2008, Colin Rosenstiel <rosenstiel@cix.co.uk>
remarked:
>> but "Docwra" seems superficially unpronounceable as
>> there's a middle vowel missing; "Doc-wer-ah" maybe, or is it
>> "doe-cur-uh"
>
>You amaze me. I've know that name since I were a lad in London

Yes, I've seen the name for a long time, but never consciously heard
anyone say it. But then it might be one of those names like Shi-vaughn
(aka Sigh-Oban) that's so different you don't even marry them up.
--
Roland Perry