File:Carew Road - Street nameplate.jpg

English: Our local street nameplates are functional. Or would be if they were all easily readable. Not too faded or too rusty. And without white enamel (?) slowly washing down into the brickwork. Which is why I began taking photos and reporting them to our local council.

  Though maybe this is now ancient history? Has everyone has either a Satnav in their car, or a smartphone with an app which guides them without fail down every obscure and interesting alleyway?   Not including me, that is. _______________

London Street Names

Perhaps someone has published a book about the naming of new streets. I assume there are sensible, completist, local council bureaucratic rules - like not having two Carew Roads in the same postcode.

The Roman Road through Tottenham didn't have such problems. Nor did Totteham - as it was written in the Domesday book when its people had to pay taxes to Earl Waltheof in the eleventh century. Some local street signs still acknowledge bits of history. There's a Waltheof Road, for example.

There are now over 6000 photos in the Flickr Group London Street names. As group admin Maggie Jones posted: "The older the better, but modern is ok too".   The first several nameplates were her own photos. They include some in elegant old brickwork; in a range of lettering styles; and some pairing of old and stained, with new and modern.   Maggie's own photo album of London street names tend to show the older, unusual, and funny peculiar.   The one which intrigued me most is: Bleeding Heart Yard. Sounds like a Victorian melodrama? It was probably from the name of a pub. But there's an Urban legend as well. Plus some Literary associations including - of course - Charles Dickens.

  Read more on the Wikipedia page.