Strange house numbers

[Gramaisc]

Behind the Apollo cinema there are two number 1s & 2s in Friar's Walk. One set belongs to a cottage behind the cinema, and the other set runs consecutively from the Friar's Terrace end of the street.

You'll often find number 2s in that alleyway


( Someone had to do it )

 

[darts22]

Stafford's house numbering began in the 1840s. All numbering had a common system based on the location of the Post Office which was in Market Square. As you walked away from the Post Office any street you came to started at number 1 on the left and returned down the right to the final number. Soon after there was a prolific house building program in the Foregate area to cater for the increasing shoe factory workers. Houses were being built on any piece of land available next to others. If say 3 were built between numbers 17 and 18 they would be allocated 17 1/4, 17 1/2, 17 3/4. Eventually this fraction method was superseded by a complete renumbering from number 1, not a popular decision. The system was changed to odds on the left and evens on the right to minimise any renumbering that might be required, gaps in the numbering were left for any spare land. Interestingly when a piece of land was allocated a number this stayed with it forever. If a large house (No 1) was demolished and say a semi built in its place the general method would be 1A and 1B.

 

[Gramaisc]

Welcome. An excellent first post - keep it up.

I like the idea of living in 17 3/4. There is a house on Peel Terrace with 50.51 on the door, but that's because it used to be two houses, 50 & 51, and not because it is numbered to two decimal places.

The motorway junction numbers in the Czech Republic are based on the distance from the end in kilometres, thus there is always a sequential, if not consecutive, number available for a new junction in the future - no 10A, as we have here.

 

[Andreas Rex]

The motorway junction numbers in the Czech Republic are based on the distance from the end in kilometres, thus there is always a sequential, if not consecutive, number available for a new junction in the future - no 10A, as we have here.

What a ruddy good idea!

 

[Gramaisc]

The motorway junction numbers in the Czech Republic are based on the distance from the end in kilometres, thus there is always a sequential, if not consecutive, number available for a new junction in the future - no 10A, as we have here.

What a ruddy good idea!

Agreed. It took me a while to work it out. It just seemed almost random big numbers to start with 189, 179, 172 etc. But then we did drive from Stafford to Prague in 18 hours, with an Iveco van from Afford, virtually non-stop moving my mate's stuff out there, and brain capacity was seriously eroded by the time we got over the border.

 

[Toble]

I like the idea of living in 17 3/4. There is a house on Peel Terrace with 50.51 on the door, but that's because it used to be two houses, 50 & 51, and not because it is numbered to two decimal places.

If I lived there, i'd have numbered it 51 50, and called it "Inside", just to see who got the joke.