Monday, 26 April 2010

Where road names come from - revisited

Some question my theory about where the names of lanes come from.

The following instructions were issued to OS surveyors.

"For names generally the following are the best individual authorities, and should be taken in the order given. Owners of property; estate agents; clergymen, postmasters and schoolmasters, if they have been some time in the district; rate collectors; road surveyors; borough and county surveyors; gentlemen residing in the district; Local government Board Orders; local histories; good directories ... Respectable inhabitants of some position should be consulted. Small farmers or cottagers are not to be depended on, even for the names of the places they occupy, especially as to the spelling, but a well-educated and intelligent occupier is, of course, a good authority"

On the basis that the Ordnance Survey must have had good reason for issuing these guidelines, I rest my case m'lord.

I found the quote in Mike Parker's excellent book "Map Addict", but it is also quoted here with a lot more information about how it all worked,

No comments: