Street Plates 3

 I expect a number of blog readers are beginning to pay closer attention to street plates they pass regularly in their home area, and/or those signs which are not where you expected them to be located, or appear to be missing altogether.  This week I began to wonder how unusual various addresses are, or alternatively, how frequently they are to be found, and why that might be.

Let's begin with the first of this week's bunch: Stanhope Road. A relatively short street in Victorian St Albans and part of the housing expansion which came about through the opening of the Midland Railway in the 1860s; the filling in of a field on the eastern boundary of St Albans Midland Station (Midland because there were already two other stations named St Albans, and it was added to the Midland Railway).  Today it is renamed St Albans City.  But back to the street which attracted commuters – no doubt a novel name in the 1880s.  St Albans was fond of recognising important or notable figures associated with the town. Flash the title Duchess of Marlborough about (and you've no doubt already made an connection with Marlborough Road) and the name St Albans' people associate with that title is Sarah Churchill, who we will return to on another occasion.

The Duchess made many bequests in favour of government minister Philip Henry Stanhope, the fourth Earl of Chesterfield.  The fourth Earl (1781 to 1855) just happened to to be president of the Medico Botanical Society of London from 1829 and was honoured by having a genus of orchid, Stanhopea in his name.  And of course Sander's Orchid Nursery was just at the foot of the hill joining the newly named Stanhope Road.  How many Stanhope Roads may be nationally found?  The National Gazetteer identifies 53 others, and only one other, Waltham Cross, in our county.

Next, we feature two roads which are unique.  The first is Puddingstone Drive.  Not even any other Puddingstone, whether Drive, Avenue or any other suffix.  Puddingstone Drive came into being resulting from the proximity of a rare geological feature nearby.  The drive is one of those road layouts found in a number of late twentieth century residential developments which begins logically enough at a T junction, in this case Highfield Lane, but then is given free rein to wander.  The road circumvents a collection of mature trees which were previously part of Cell Barnes Hospital estate and now a pleasant green space between the houses; and then includes a diversion to take in a small group of homes which would otherwise have to be called something else!

If you have never come across the geological feature previously think of it an irregularly shaped boulder of conglomerate rock which looks rather like rough concrete and found mainly in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire; rare enough to match the rarity of the street plate of the same name!

The other rare name in this month's collection is Milvus Road.  The National Gazetteer identifies no other with this name in the UK.  And if you have not come across the name before most of us will recognise red or black kites in the skies around us, and especially in the Chilterns.  These are raptors or, if you like, birds of prey.  Check their details in a specialist bird book or view stunning video clips online.  Milvus Road does not stand alone; there is a little collection of raptors in the newly completed Oaklands Grange located along Sandpit Lane.  Unique as befits the glory of red kites in the skies across the Herts and Bucks countryside.

Someone thought to select a small group of men who had come to prominence at or shortly before the twentieth century dawned. They stood apart for their command skills within the British Army.  A small group of roads in the Cell Barnes (formerly known as London Road estate) were selected for such an honour.  Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig led the Expeditionary Force throughout most of the First World War.  His was also the name behind the unique and continuing fund raising charity supporting ex-servicemen and women.  It was called  the Haig Fund and is what the red poppies represent.  Through most of the period since 1921, when the fund began, Haig's name appeared on each poppy; it now reads Poppy Appeal.  I wonder whether a poppy appears on one of the street plates in Haig Close each November.

There are countless examples of Haig (rather than Haigh) in the country's roads.  Of the eight versions of Haig Close, plus one Earl Haig Close, this is the only example in Hertfordshire.

Finally, an example of a road which sported one name and then a need to change that name was realised.  Of course there could have been many reasons for that action, but in this case it was confusion caused to the postal service and a certain amount of carelessness during the addressing of envelopes.  The Marshalswick road which linked woodland surrounding Marshalswick Farm and nearby Skyswood led to the rather obvious name of Woodlands Avenue being applied in 1938 to the formative estate.  No-one appeared to make the connection with a road of almost the same name on a nearby estate just a few years earlier: Woodland Drive. The similarity resulted in frequent confusion, with post intended for one road being sent to the other, and even the spellings were transposed, So, choose any combination of Woodland and Woodlands, Avenue and Drive!

In selecting an alternative and coming up with Sherwood Avenue, there were locals who mused over the continuing connection with woodlands and a legend popular in our culture.  Instead, the connection was on residents' doorsteps.  With the formation of the parish of St Mary, daughter of St Leonards, Sandridge, in 1948, the driving force behind much of the groundwork in creating the new parish and its new church of St Mary had come from the Reverend Michael Sherwood. For the residents of the parish the renaming would have been a personal and community honour, and they certainly would not have been aware that throughout the UK there would have been 54 other Sherwood Avenues. 

 Surprisingly, perhaps, for the most famous of all forests, only six of the 54 known Sherwood Avenue examples are located in the county of Nottingham!  Time to remind ourselves that other labels are also available; there are six Sherwood Avenues in Notts, but there would be Sherwood Roads (7), Closes (0), Drives (1) et al.