Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral Now and Then Streets and house numbering

Have you noticed that in the older streets the house numbers start at the beginning 1 and 2 from the end that is nearest to the Town Hall that they belong to with odd numbers on the left and even numbers on the right
Take the road between Upton and Moreton which is named in 2 parts Upton Rd/Moreton Rd
When coming from Moreton Cross (Wallasey town hall)odd numbers
are on the left in Upton Road and when coming from Upton (Birkenhead town hall) odd numbers are on the left in Moreton Rd so you have even numbers that then change to odd numbers on the same side of the road.

Do they still do this with new streets/buildings

In the 1916 street diectory The Happy Valley is number 348
but the Greek Taverna which lower down Borough Rd is number 500
today

Anyone tell how numbering is done now when a lot get demolished

I think the "system" of lowest numbers towards the Town Hall and evens of the right/ odds on the left is VERY common throughout UK. I will guess it is probably a practice established in Victorian times, perhaps even very much earlier.

I have needed to travel a lot in UK and at times that system has been a great help finding a destination or to acquire a sense of direction (pre-SatNav days of course).

There are always anomalies. Where I live now follows the general principle BUT the numbering of houses in the road is chaos ie the numbers are not in sequence. This is almost certainly because when houses were first built in the road (over 100 years ago)they were numbered sequentially - with each house having fields or plots of land between. Over the years individual fields/ plots were then sold for housing (individual houses initially but later on blocks of houses) and it looks like the numbering continued from where they finished off last time irrespective of where the house was in the road. Chaos.

Watching a taxi cruising up & down looking for a specific house number can be fun. Now that the road is completely filled with houses I suppose the logical step would be to erase all the current numbers and issue new numbers in sequence. I dread to think of the confusion that would cause and anyway - I LIKE my house number

Although not as "picturesque" as a UK road name + number there is a lot to be said for the house location identification system used in some countries where the roads are laid out in a proper grid pattern. In that system the parallel roads running N-S (Calles) are numbered 1,2,3 etc and the roads running E-W (Carreras) are similarly numbered 1,2,3,etc. An address could therefore be Calle 25, 11-45 which means it is on Calle 25 and is 45 meters from the junction with Carrera 11. Pretty much a grid reference. However, towns and cities built to this sort of rigid "grid" plan - can be damned boring because they lack the meandering character of our UK system.

Snod

Under the Public health act 1925 all houses must have a number regardless of whether they also have a name, apart from some exceptions where there is no sequence of numbered properties then names only are allowed. In a lot of cases asking for a house number and only receiving the name is pure snobbery.

Speaking of house numbers- in bell road, wallasey there is a 'missing' odd number. on the left side of the street coming frm town hall?
Cant remember exact number but its in the 70s i think? No 'space' for a bombed house.
Does anyone know why? Been bugging me for years!

used to get a lot of that when i was a cabbie
without a number you would be looking at every house in the road

"oh we dont have a number its called tree tops"
" you do, and when you tell me what is is, we will send a cab to you "

LOL they quickly remembered.