RICHARD’S TENTERDEN STREET NAMES GROUP “STUFF”

Street Names

To find out more about the Tenterden U3A Street Names group email the Group Leader, Richard Parsons:

This is a jumble of mainly on-line resources organised as follows:

Note that recent additions are show in red.

Some background to investigating Street Names...

Section 36.6 of the Highways Act 1980 states:

The council of every county, metropolitan district and London borough and the Common Council shall cause to be made, and shall keep corrected up to date, a list of the streets within their area which are highways maintainable at the public expense.

Kent County CouncilKent County Council (www.kent.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/what-we-look-after/roads/public-and-private-roads) is the relevant council for Tenterden. The list of Street Names, as for all councils in England and Wales, can be found at FindMyStreetFindMyStreet (www.findmystreet.co.uk/street-list). For Tenterden Streets it is necessary to select by Authority “Kent”, District “Ashford” and sort by “Town, Street Name”. In February 2021 147 streets were listed. Whilst this list gives all Streets “Maintainable at public expense” and all Streets with “Mixed maintenance responsibility” it may not include all Streets “Not maintainable at public expense”. The Streets are shown on this mapmap (www.findmystreet.co.uk/map).

Section 19.1 of the Public Health Act 1925 states:

The urban authority shall cause the name of every street to be painted, or otherwise marked, in a conspicuous position on any house, building or erection in or near the street, and shall from time to time alter or renew such inscription of the name of any street, if and when the name of the street is altered or the inscription becomes illegible.

Ashford Borough CouncilAshford Borough Council (www.ashford.gov.uk/planning-and-development/street-naming-and-numbering/) is the relevant urban authority for Tenterden and are responsible for Street Naming (including House Names). (The Post Office is responsible for Post Codes). There is a Street Naming PolicyStreet Naming Policy (www.ashford.gov.uk/media/otrl1dm0/164842-snn-policy-rev-july-2014.pdf) which states (section 1.7) that ABC are responsible for maintaining street signs.

There are several unofficial lists of Tenterden “streets” which differ not only from the official list but between each other. Examples are:

Corresponding to FindMyStreetFindMyStreet (www.findmystreet.co.uk/) there is FindMyAddressFindMyAddress (www.findmyaddress.co.uk/) which holds the official address of every property in England and Wales. 30 free searches are allowed every day.

And how things have changed as this account from about 1900 shows.

Though there was a Post house in Tenterden in 1700, the state of the roads in the 18th Century was very bad. There is a tradition that when Squire Blackmore and his lady were going one Lord’s Day from Westwell to the “Meeting House,” the carriage stuck fast “near the Oak at East Cross,” and they were obliged to get out and walk. This kind of thing accounts for the country footpaths running parallel with roads, and for the stone causeways still existing, which like the beach tracks formerly along the roadside, were useful for the pack horses as well as for foot passengers.

Several roads are shown in old maps which are now only foot-paths or farm roads, one from Park Gate to Halden Place, one from Leigh Green to the Smallhythe road at Six Fields gate and thence to Morghew, and another from Kench Hill to Pick Hill. But the road from Arcadia to Woolpack turning, now part of the main road to Headcorn, appears only as a track through woods. Of the three Turnpike trusts, which maintained the five principal roads out of the town till less than 25 years ago [i.e. about 1875], the oldest was the Tenterden one, the Act for which was passed in 1762, and the main part of which was the road from Appledore Heath to Golford near Cranbrook; the branch to Rolvenden and the Ashford trust were of later date, and the Woodchurch one was not created till 1821.

Tenterden Maps

Contemporary maps of Tenterden can be found on...

The National Library of ScotlandNational Library of Scotland (maps.nls.uk) is a useful source for older maps. The larger scale maps covering Tenterden are...

Surveyed Published 25in 6in  
1870-71 1876   Kent LXXI  
1897 1898 Kent LXXI.12   As overlay map
1897 1899   Kent LXXI.SE (includes: Tenterden) As overlay map
1906 1908 Kent LXXI.12    
1906 1908 Kent LXXI.16 (Tenterden)   As overlay map
1906 1909   Kent LXXI.SE (includes: Tenterden)  
1938 c1947   Kent LXXI.SE (includes: Tenterden)  
pre1930-1961 1961   TQ83SE As overlay map

The 1843 Tenterden Tithe mapTenterden Tithe map (www.highweald.org/downloads/publications/teaching-resouces/school-specific-resources/tenterden-ce-junior-school/658-tenterden-tithe-map/file.html) is quite difficult to read.

Further maps can be found in Tenterden Directories and Histories as noted below.

Tenterden Directories

History of Tenterden

The myTenterden websitewebsite (www.mytenterden.co.uk) is full of historical information. . .

And specific articles of interest include:

Street Details by Area

NE Tenterden Streets - Summary
NE Tenterden Streets - full research details.

This page was last updated on: Thu 15th April 2021. Copyright © Richard Wheeler, 2021.

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