Street names

There are around 240 street names in Bourne, according to the latest town map, although the list is increasing annually and now forms a chronicle of our history because they reflect the people, places and events that have influenced the community over the centuries.

When the town was little more than a crossroads, there was no difficulty in naming the streets because they were identified by the direction in which they ran, i e north, south, east and west. As the town expanded, new streets were given names associated with nearby topographical features and so we had Church Walk, Water Lane, Water Street, Brewery Lane, Meadow Close and Meadowgate, Water Lane and Union Street, a reminder that there was once a workhouse here, later St Peter‘s Hospital, demolished in 2001.

Mediaeval Bourne was clustered around the Market Place that we know today as the town centre. In 1380, just seven main streets existed and any other parts of the town were merely cart tracks or footpaths. They were called Northgate, Southgate, Water Gang Street, West Street, East Street, Manor Street and Potter Street.

This was a haphazard method of identifying streets that owed more to common usage than to official nomenclature while the numbering was often taken from the principal or most popular tavern or inn in that street, a system of location that had already been in use in previous centuries. The system was widespread through the country but all this began to change when the numbering of houses and naming of streets was officially introduced in England in 1805 after the government decided that they could be widely read as a result of improvements in the standard of education.

The numbering of houses and the official naming of streets that we know today was eventually introduced in Bourne in 1899, soon after the formation of Bourne Urban District Council. At one of the first meetings of the new authority on Tuesday 13th June, Councillor John Swift gave notice that he intended to move the advisability of naming the streets and placing tablets on nearby walls or at other vantage points.

At the next monthly meeting on Tuesday 11th July 1899, he suggested that the streets should be named after some of England's illustrious men who had been connected with Bourne, such as Charles Worth, Robert Manning and Job Hartop, as well as those who have achieved fame nationally. A five-member committee under the chairmanship of Councillor Swift was then appointed to ensure that the scheme was properly carried out and from then on, all streets in the town were eventually given names, many of which survive today.

By October 1899, the committee appointed by Bourne Urban District Council to supervise the introduction of street names had become quite busy, not only naming new streets but also re-naming others to perpetuate the town's history and some of its worthy citizens. As a result, Star Lane became Abbey Road, to remember the Augustinian community that once lived here, Pinfold Lane became Hereward Street, Back Lane became Manning Road, after Robert Manning (1264-1340), the poet and chronicler who lived and worked at the abbey, and a section of Eastgate became Willoughby Road, one of the Ancaster family names while others are remembered with Ancaster Road and Drummond Road. Other names chosen by the committee included Stanley Street, after the famous explorer Henry Stanley, and Gladstone Street after the Victorian prime minister and statesman, William Gladstone. The committee also decided to number the houses in Stanley Street, Gladstone Street and Abbey Road.

Other names whose origins are deeply rooted in past history that have been added over the years are Bedehouse Bank, a reference perhaps to an ancient monastic or prayer house that was once situated in the vicinity, Coggles Causeway where the surface was paved with small round stones or coggles, an alternative to cobblestones, the Austerby and Christopher's Lane.

Occupational names survive in Tin Lane, once an area for tin workshops, Pinfold Road and Potter’s Close, off Eastgate where the town’s thriving pottery industry was located until being virtually destroyed by fire during the 17th century, and Tannery Close where houses have been built on the site of a busy skin and tannery industry. Religion also finds its way into the streets with the names of saints and in Bourne you will see St Gilbert’s Road, home of the local Roman Catholic Church, St Peter’s Road and St Paul’s Gardens, the two saints to which the Abbey Church is dedicated, Abbey Road, Abbots Close, Bishops Close, Church Lane, Church View and The Retreat.

The Roman occupation of Bourne is remembered with Akeman Close, Centurion Court, The Arena  and Roman Bank, the Danes with Viking Close while the Norman occupation and the life and times of Hereward the Wake, the Saxon hero, is well represented with Baldwin Grove, Edwin Gardens, Hereward Bungalows, Hereward Street, Saxon Way, Torfrida Drive, Leofric Avenue, Godiva Crescent, Godwin Close, Mercia Gardens, Norman Mews and Thurstan Close. A street has also recently been named Wakes Close although it refers to the nickname of Bourne Town Football Club rather than a direct connection with Hereward.

Today, most of the directional names remain with North Street giving way to North Road as it leaves town, South Street becoming South Road and West Street turning into West Road with Eastgate almost a district on its own, as indeed it was in times past.

The Marquess of Exeter, whose family once held the title of Lord of the Manor of Bourne where they had extensive land holdings, is remembered through Burghley Centre, Burghley Court, Burghley Street and Cecil Close, named after William Cecil, the first Lord Burghley (1520-98), Exeter Close/Court/Gardens and Street, and Marquess Court, a new development centred on the old North Street terrace of cottages. The developers originally choose the name Marquis Court but I wrote to them in March 2004 pointing out that the terrace was built circa 1880 by the Marquess of Exeter and this spelling of his title was common usage at that time. The managing director of Lindum Homes, Rob Stewart, replied assuring me that it would be changed and the new name plates eventually went up in August 2004 and Marquess Court is now part of the street scene.

The tradition of naming new streets after kings and queens and prominent people soon became firmly entrenched and so we have royalty with Alexandra Terrace, Charles Close, Queen’s Road and Edinburgh Crescent, Princes Court, Kingsway, Victoria Place and George Street, politicians with Churchill Avenue, writers and poets with Kingsley Avenue, Tennyson Drive, Coleridge Place, Wordsworth Grove and Betjeman Close. There are also three thoroughfares named after hostelries situated in the vicinity, the Angel Precinct, off North Street, Crown Walk, off West Street, although the Crown closed in 1991 and the building incorporated in the present complex of shops and offices, and Granby Court which is close to the Marquis of Granby public house.

The system of street naming remains more or less the same and although patriotic and military names are less evident today, there are special occasions when they are used. For instance, a housing development completed off Mill Drove in July 1994, was named to remember the Battle of Arnhem during the Second World War fifty years before in which troops were stationed in Bourne prior to the invasion. Places involved in the famous campaign have been commemorated with Arnhem Way, Oosterbeek Close, Lonsdale Grove, Barkston Close and Pegasus Grove and across the road the Burma campaign is remembered with Mountbatten Way, Arakan Way, Kohima Close, Mandalay Drive, Rangoon Way and Wingate Way.

The great and the good from Bourne’s history are also well represented:

BROWNING COURT which opened in 2007 is named after Bryan Browning (1773-1856), the architect who designed the Town Hall in 1821 and various other important buildings in the locality.

DELAINE CLOSE remembers Hugh Delaine Smith (1920-1995) and the family bus company that has served the town since 1890. He was awarded the MBE for services to public transport shortly before his death.

HARRINGTON STREET after Robert Harrington (1589-1654), a local lad who walked to London and made his fortune which he left to the town and is now administered by Bourne United Charities.

HARVEY CLOSE after Councillor Lacey E Harvey, a tailor, of 48 North Street, who was chairman of Bourne Urban District Council from 1932-33.

LEYTONSTONE AVENUE and ESSEX WAY are named after that area of London where most of the property owned by Robert Harrington was located and still provides a large income for the benefit of the town.

MIDLETON GARDENS remembers Viscount Midleton (1903-88), best known locally as Trevor Brodrick, who with his wife Sheila, did so much work for deaf charities and the Girl Guides.

NOWELL’S LANE after William Nowell, head of a firm of agricultural engineers, was chairman of Bourne Urban District Council from 1910-11 and was mainly responsible for the establishment of the playing field in Recreation Road.

OSTLER DRIVE was named after John Lely Ostler (1811-59), wealthy landowner and benefactor who helped found schools and assisted the poor and who is remembered by a stone memorial in the town cemetery erected after his death by public subscription.

STANTON CLOSE is in memory of Horace Stanton (1897-1977), a leading solicitor who fulfilled many public roles and was instrumental in the establishment of the Wellhead Gardens and War Memorial.

VICTOR WAY remembers Victor Wherry (1913-88), former chairman of the firm Wherry and Sons Ltd, using his first name rather than the family name which was already in use elsewhere in the town.

WHERRY’S LANE is named after William Wherry (1803-1882), senior partner in the firm Messrs Wherry and Sons Ltd., merchants. He was also active in local affairs as chairman of the Bourne Gas and Coke Company and a tireless worker for the Baptist Church in West Street.

Street naming today is one of the tasks of the town council which is always called upon to advise housing developers. In March 2003, there was a controversy over the naming of new streets on the 2,000 home Elsea Park estate where house building was underway. There was a suggestion that the names should be linked to the town's motor racing heritage but the developers preferred Elsea Park Way, Aykroft, Cross Lane, The Pollards, The Yarde, Pond Lane and Quayside East and West, all of which have a modern and up market ring about them which was in keeping with the development.

The Stamford Mercury tested public opinion and one resident suggested a whole tranche of names connected with the race track including Silverstone Drive, Goodwood Crescent, Pit Lane Walk, Brooklands Avenue and the names of famous drivers such as Stirling Moss and Jackie Stewart but in the event, the developers won the day although the motor racing idea was not sunk completely because one of the main perimeter roads was named Raymond Mays Way while Graham Hill Way on the Cherryholt Road industrial estate remembers the most famous of the BRM drivers, Graham Hill, who won the world championship in 1965.

Cherryholt, often written as two words, Cherry Holt, is generally accepted as meaning a place which is popular for its cherries, as in Cherry Street (Birmingham) and Cherry Hinton (Cambridgeshire), holt being a Lincolnshire word for wood or thicket. A more precise definition, also from Cambridgeshire, is Cherry Willingham, being the ham, or small settlement, of Willa's people in the place of the cherry trees.

War heroes have also been a favourite source of inspiration and Bourne has Sharpe's Close, a small cul-de-sac off Beech Avenue which is named after Charles Sharpe, the local man who won the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for bravery, while serving in France with the Second Battalion, the Lincolnshire Regiment on 9th May 1915. In May 2003, the town council was asked to consider other names taken from the War Memorial in South Street which remembers our dead from two world wars, 97 from the Great War of 1914-18, a further 32 who did not return from the conflict of 1939-45 and three who died on active service in other parts of the world before the century ended.

The idea was fully discussed but discarded as future policy and members decided to judge each case on its merits. In August 2003, the council recommended street names with a medical connection for a new housing estate of 70 homes then being built on the site of the old Bourne Hospital in South Road opposite the Elsea Park development. Names of several general practitioners who had served the town in past years were chosen including Holloway Avenue after Dr George Holloway (1905-1967), Gilpin Close after Dr John Gilpin (1864-1943), Finn Close after Dr Ruth Finn (1903-92), McKenzie Court after Dr Jean McKenzie (1925-1991), a visiting rheumatologist from Peterborough District Hospital, and Tipler Court after Mrs Florence Tipler (1905-86) who worked at the hospital for many years as a senior nurse and later served as chairman of Bourne Urban District Council from 1962-63. Two popular highly respected district nurses during the middle years of the 20th century, Sisters Edith Windle and Barbara Tully, are also remembered with Windle Drive and Tully Close.

We already had a street called Galletly Close, a small estate of new houses off North Road which was so named in 1990. The original intention was to call it after Dr John Galletly (1899-1993) but he was still with us when the proposal came before the town council and as it is not the policy to name roads after anyone living, the dedication was changed to his mother, Mrs Caroline Galletly, who gave the town distinguished service as the first woman chairman of Bourne Urban District Council from 1930-31.

Some streets remember other past landowners with Aveland Close and Heathcote Road, and past counties with Kesteven Way, Holland Close and Lyndsey Close (a misspelling of the correct name Lindsey), while there are also historical references such as Carholme Close. Many names still reflect topographical associations past and present such as Bourne Road, Ermine Close, Watling Close, Home Close, Lodge Road, Manor Court, Manor Lane, Northfields, Southfields, Tunnel Bank, Spalding Road, Station Approach, Stone Close, Waterside Close, Westbourne Park, Westminster Lane and Westwood Drive.

Bourne's reputation as a railway centre in years past is also remembered with Stephenson Way, built during the 1970s on land once occupied by the main line to Sleaford and named after George Stephenson, inventor of the Rocket steam engine and a leading figure of the new railway age during the early 19th century.

Many natural features of the previous rural landscape are remembered with Coppice Way, Greenacres Drive, Meadow Drove, Mill Drove, Old Oak Place and Old Horse Chestnut Lane, the Slipe, Springbank Drive and South Fen Road.

But in recent years with the modern housing boom well underway, planners favour the countryside features that have been lost to bricks and concrete and so names from nature have become the vogue, trees and flowers predominating. The best known of these is Beech Avenue, the longest street in Bourne stretching for almost one mile across the town from north to west. We also have Ash Grove, Blackthorn Way, The Brambles, Bramley Close, Briar Walk, Bryony Gardens, Cedar Drive, Chestnut Way, Elder Close, Elm Terrace, Fir Avenue, Forest Avenue, Hawthorn Road, Hazelwood Drive, Holly Drive, Jasmine Close, Laburnum Close, Larch Close, Lilac Close, Linden Rise, Maple Gardens, Oak Crescent, Orchard Close, Pinewood Close, Poplar Crescent, Poppy Place, Rowan Way, Speedwell Drive, Spindlewood Drive, Sycamore Close, The Spindles, Teasel Drive, Tilia Way, Willow Drive, Wisteria Way, Woodview, Woodland Avenue and Yew Tree Close.

Flowers are represented with Bluebell Way, Buttercup Drive, Campion Way,  Coltsfoot Drive, Cornflower Way, Cowslip Crescent, Daisy Court, Dogrose Drive, Heartsease Way, Heather Court, Iris Gardens, Lavender Way, Marigold Avenue, Periwinkle Way, Pimpernel Walk and Waterlily Way, and lately some herbs have been added with Coriander Way, Rosemary Gardens, Tarragon Way and Thyme Avenue, while birds are present with Eagle Road, Falcon Way, Hawk Crescent, Kestrel Drive, Merlin Close and Peregrine Place, and animals with Badger Lane, Brock Crescent and Setts Green.

Except in special circumstances when streets need to be related to a specific person or event, names from the garden and countryside do seem to find favour with councillors and developers and as Bourne is expanding at an extremely fast rate then they will need to maintain a close watch on their botanical lists to keep pace in the future.

The origins of several names, however, remain obscure and are most probably there at the whim of the builders, chosen because they were the titles of the development company involved or perhaps they described the house designs in that particular area. These include streets with hotel names such as Dorchester Avenue and Grosvenor Avenue, Beaufort Drive and Berkeley Drive, while others that remain unsolved include Dere Close, Brackley Close, Broadlands Avenue, Broadway Close, Burmor Close, Foxley Court, The Gables, Hamilton Close, Richardson Close, Rochester Court, Russell Way, Shipley Close, Stretham Way, Wetherby Close, Wexford Close, Cheriton Park and Wendover Mews.

REVISED MAY 2013