Street names

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Woodgate

How street names have changed over time

On old indentures dating back to the 1700s, most properties were identified by the names of neighbouring owners or tenants and roads were all called the ‘Town Street’.

Before the Enclosure in 1820, tracks were mainly the only means of reaching beyond the village enclave. Houses were populated in the centre of the village.
On later documents, including census records and electoral lists, we can find a variety of addresses.

Maxey Road has been known as North Street and Maxey End. The northern section was identified as Helpstone Road on the 1820 Enclosure Map and the southern section as Nunton Road.
Golden Drop was officially renamed in 1971 – previously being known as the Drop. ¹
Glinton Road has been known as Station Road.
Woodgate and Heath Road, have both been known as South Street. A part of Heath Road (on the bend leaving the village) was identified as Snip Green.
Heath Road was identified as Castor Road on the Enclosure Map 1820.
West Street has been known as Village Street, Bainton Road and High Street.
Church Lane – the short lane wrapping around the church.
Broad Wheel Road has been identified as Woodgate End and Woodgate Lane. At the time of the Enclosure in 1820, the western single track section beyond the wood was created and identified as Huskey Close Road. On a survey of lands in 1630, the area is identified as Huscot Close.
Knowltons Road – later known as Pear Tree Lane – an old track off Broad Wheel Road leading to ‘allotments’ to the west of Royce Wood. (Now used as a bridleway and footpath)
Wright’s Road ran from Maxey Road towards the Lolham Bridges on King Street – now a footpath next to South Drain.
Maxham’s Bugle Road is an unmade single track, created at the time of the Enclosure in 1820. It leads off Heath Road east to meet Maxham’s Green Road.
Maxham’s Green Road is an unmade single-track road leading towards Woodcroft. It was created at the time of the Enclosure in 1820.
College Lane is an unmade single-track road. It leads off Glinton Road south to meet Maxham’s Green Road.
The Nook – the short lane off the centre of the village.
Stamford Road – the road between Marholm and Ufford in the Heath field ( Farm lands to the south of the village).
Cromwell Mews was created as an occupation road in 1929.²

New roads created since 1950

Arborfield Close.  Houses were built for the paper mill workers and the close takes its name from Arborfield in Berkshire, where Alfred Towgood the owner of the mill had originally started his paper manufacturing business.
Woodland Lea was created in the 1960s. The parish council suggested in 1962 that the street be called ‘Royce Wood Close’.³
Clare Court – a small cul-de-sac comprising mainly of barns converted to housing in 1983.
Millfield Close was an expansion from Arborfield Close with houses built in the late 1990s.
Temples Court and Crossberry Way were created in 2000 and are named after old field names and footpaths identified on the Enclosure Map in 1820.
Towgood Close – created in 2014 on land which had been part of the paper mill factory and named after the owner Alfred Towgood.
Eastwell Court – a small cul de sac off Maxey Road, with new houses built from 2014. The old Eastwell Spring was located in fields to the east of Maxey Road.
Willow Mews – a small cul-de-sac off Temples Court.
Cuckoo Close – a cul-de-sac off Broad Wheel Road, with new houses built from 2017.
St Botolph’s Yard – a small cul-de-sac off Church Lane, previously the Exeter Arms public house with barn and car park.

Sources
1 Stamford Mercury 3 September 1971
2 Peterborough Standard 11 December 1959
3 Stamford Mercury 1 June 1962
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive