CAMDEN STREET NAMES and Their Origins
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CAMDEN STREET NAMES and their origins © David A. Hayes and Camden History Society, 2020 Introduction Listed alphabetically are In 1853, in London as a whole, there were o all present-day street names in, or partly 25 Albert Streets, 25 Victoria, 37 King, 27 Queen, within, the London Borough of Camden 22 Princes, 17 Duke, 34 York and 23 Gloucester (created in 1965); Streets; not to mention the countless similarly named Places, Roads, Squares, Terraces, Lanes, o abolished names of streets, terraces, Walks, Courts, Alleys, Mews, Yards, Rents, Rows, alleyways, courts, yards and mews, which Gardens and Buildings. have existed since c.1800 in the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn and St Encouraged by the General Post Office, a street Pancras (formed in 1900) or the civil renaming scheme was started in 1857 by the parishes they replaced; newly-formed Metropolitan Board of Works o some named footpaths. (MBW), and administered by its ‘Street Nomenclature Office’. The project was continued Under each heading, extant street names are after 1889 under its successor body, the London itemised first, in bold face. These are followed, in County Council (LCC), with a final spate of name normal type, by names superseded through changes in 1936-39. renaming, and those of wholly vanished streets. Key to symbols used: The naming of streets → renamed as …, with the new name ← renamed from …, with the old Early street names would be chosen by the name and year of renaming if known developer or builder, or the owner of the land. Since the mid-19th century, names have required Many roads were initially lined by individually local-authority approval, initially from parish named Terraces, Rows or Places, with houses Vestries, and then from the Metropolitan Board of numbered within them. In the second half of the Works (MBW, 1855-89), which had a dedicated 19th century, they were subsumed into the street ‘Street Nomenclature Office’ and subsequently of which they were part, and their buildings from its successor body, the London County renumbered as part of the longer thoroughfare. Council (LCC, 1889-1964). Today, new local street During the same period, some short streets were names are approved by Camden Council after combined to become part of longer ones. consultation with the emergency services and Royal Mail. On the King’s Cross Central → pt became part of … development (postcode N1C), some names have pt ← partly comprising former … been selected from a shortlist distilled from the 10,000 suggestions made by the general public in a Extinctions competition launched in 2013. Over the centuries many streets, roads, courts, yards and mews have entirely disappeared – Renamings whether demolished to make way for railways or new roads; through slum clearance, or in the wake Numerous Camden streets have been renamed of bomb damage during World War Two (WWII); over time, occasionally in the hope of improving or as the result of more recent redevelopment. the image of a particularly notorious street, but † entirely vanished usually in order to eliminate or reduce the number †→ demolished, and on the line or site of … of duplications. ←† superseding a demolished street Name origins Key Many Camden street names are either arbitrary or * a personal forename or surname impossible to explain. The new names, approved belonging to a builder, developer or early and/or dictated by the MBW or LCC, were often owner, whose exact identity is unknown; quiet arbitrary. Some commemorate notable or sometimes a member of his family people with no local Camden connection. Many feature (mostly English) place names, randomly A an aristocratic name or title with no chosen as if plucked from a gazetteer. St Pancras particular Camden connection, intended to vestry-men had a fondness for the names of give a (maybe lowly) street a hint of random English seaside towns. Some later gentility renamings were even more random. G a geographical name, typically of an However, a high proportion of names are English town or village, whose significance historically significant. Names are drawn from an (if any) is unknown eclectic range of sources. Many relate to major landowners, their titles of nobility, their family G/* a name that could be either a place name members, or their properties in various parts of or personal surname the country. Some recall a street’s developer or builder. Others make reference to the area’s G/A a name that might be either geographical natural features and agricultural past; to its or an aristocratic title industries, businesses or institutions, its railways, churches, places of entertainment or public PH a name derived from an adjacent public houses. While yet others commemorate notable house, inn, tavern or alehouse (often local residents. remaining in use well after the hostelry’s demise) Where the origin of a name is known or can clearly be deduced, an explanation is given. If there are R a rustic-sounding ‘advertising’ or ‘estate multiple derivations of the same term, their agents’ name, meant to attract house headings are distinguished by superscript buyers with a suggestion of semi-rurality – numbers; e.g. BEDFORD1, referring to the Dukes of such fabrications often combining a tree or 2 Bedford; and BEDFORD , to the unrelated Bedford flower with an old word for a field or (School) Charity. wood, e.g. ‘croft’ or ‘hurst’ Related names in CAPITALS cross-refer to entries U significance (if any) unknown; occasionally providing further elucidation. added is a tentative suggestion (on no actual evidence) as to a possible eponym, Street names whose origins are either obvious or such speculations being prefixed with a wholly unknown are listed without a verbal bracketed question mark explanation. Some recurrent common explanations are represented by an asterisk or superscript letter following the heading. Main sources All volumes in the series of Streets books published by Camden Countless websites and other online resources, including History Society https://www.maps.thehunthouse.com/Streets/New_to_Old Gillian Bebbington, London Street Names (Batsford, 1972) _Abolished_London_Street_Names.htm#L Linda Clarke, Building Capitalism (Routledge, 1992) S. Fairfield, The Streets of London (Macmillan, 1983) With thanks also to Steve Denford, Camden History Society Judith Flanders, The Victorian City (Atlantic Books, 2012) research team leader Bryant Lillywhite, London Signs (Allen & Unwin, 1972) 2 ABBEY1 ADAM2 U Abbey Place† (off Little Coram Street) Adam’s Terrace (→ pt Camden High St, NW1) The seat of the Duke of BEDFORD1 is WOBURN Abbey in Bedfordshire. ADAMSON Adamson Road, NW3 ABBEY2; ABBOT The eponymous Mr Adamson was reputedly a Abbey Road, NW8 contractor or architect to ETON College. Abbot’s Place, NW6 (← Abbot’s Road, 1939) Abbey Lane (†→ Kilburn Vale Estate, NW6) ADDEN * Abbey Mews† (← Albert Mews) Adden Place (†→ King’s Cross Station) Nearby Kilburn PRIORY1 was originally subordinate to Westminster Abbey. Its lands, known as Abbey Farm, ADELAIDE were bought in 1819 by Fulk GREVILLLE2 Howard. Adelaide Road, NW3 Adelaide Road North (→ Hilgrove Road, NW6) ABERDARE The former was laid out in 1830 and named in honour . Aberdare Gardens, NW6 of the newly-crowned Queen Adelaide (1792-1849), Henry Bruce (1815-95), 1st Baron Aberdare, was a Liberal who in 1818 had married the future King WILLIAM IV. politician, Home Secretary (1868-73) and a popular The Adelaide Tavern was one of the road’s first reformer of the licensing laws. He died in 1895 when the buildings. road was being built. ADELINE ABINGDON G Adeline Place, WC1 (← Caroline Street, 1938) . Abingdon Close, NW1 Adeline Marie RUSSELL1 (1852-1920), a daughter of A seemingly random 1958 naming after the Berkshire Lord SOMERS, was the wife of the 10th Duke of (now Oxfordshire) town. BEDFORD1 and an advocate of penal reform. ACHILLES ADMIRAL . Achilles Road, NW6 Admiral’s Walk, NW3 (← pt The Grove, 1949) One of West Hampstead’s ‘Greek Roads’, developed from Admiral’s House, the road’s principal building, was 1887 and named after prominent characters in the Trojan long wrongly thought to have been home to Admiral Wars (cf. AGAMEMNON, AJAX and ULYSSES). Matthew Barton, who actually lived on Rosslyn Hill. It was a Lieutenant Fountain North (1775-1811) who ACOL lived in the house, and adapted its roof to resemble . Acol Road, NW6 the deck of a ship. A village on the Isle of Thanet where the POWELL- COTTON family owned land. The Acol Bridge Club was at AFRICA PH 15 Acol Road in the 1930s and some of its members Africa Place† (off Ossulston Street, NW1) originated the Acol bidding system. The adjoining C19 pub was called the African Chief. U ACRE AGAMEMNON Acre Place (→ Waite’s Place†) Agamemnon Road, NW6 Another of the ‘Greek Roads’ named after characters 1 ACTON in the Trojan Wars (cf. ACHILLES, AJAX and ULYSSES). Acton Street, WC1 The street was begun, after 1776, by the SWINTON AGAR brothers on a field called Acton Meadow. Agar Grove, NW1 (1938 ← St Paul’s Road) Agar Place, NW1 (pt ← Camden Cottages 2 U ACTON Mews) Acton Place (→ pt Camden Road, NW1) In 1810, ‘Counsellor’ William Agar, KC, bought the St Pancras estate and built a mansion called Elm Lodge. 1 ADAM In 1840, after his death, his widow leased land for Adam’s Row (→ pt Hampstead Road, NW1) building to working-class men. Unpaved and with Adam & Eve Yard† (off the above) inadequate drainage, the partly self-built suburb they The Row was close to the C18/C19 Adam & Eve tavern created became widely regarded (perhaps unfairly) as and tea gardens. (There was a second establishment of a dreadful slum. Agar Town was swept away in the ↙ the same name at Old St Pancras, see EVE.) 3 1860s to make way for the MIDLAND Railway’s ALBANY approaches to St Pancras.