Over the years houses may have been renumbered, for example Whalley Road, Accrington; possibly in 1958. This can cause a lot of confusion when researching census forms.
Is there any documentation anywhere setting out house renumbering?
Thanks,
Roger
Am I right in thinking that door numbering didn't catch on until there was a door to door postal delivery?
The reason I say that is because I have dabbled a little lately tracing the ancestors of my maternal grandmother, and found that addressess were a bit obscure.
By that I mean - I found an address which was 'Busk', which turns out to be the stretch of Union Rd between St Pauls school and Haworth St.
Other addresses in the list I looked at didn't show door numbers either - just 'so and so Buildings'
........ If you check the preamble at the start of each section in the 1841/51 census it shows the enumerators route, from that with a street plan, it is possible to find the exact house.
Retlaw.
I had the situation where there were 2 blocks of houses, Victoria Villas and Major Villas, with no numbers. The enumerator went Victoria, Major, Victoria and then Major. There were no numbers and no way of knowing the order in which the enumerator visited them.
Does the Land Registry hold historical records?
I've had similar situations with the 1841/51/61 census returns for Accrington, it means there was no one at home when the enumarator called, if you follow his route on a street plan you should be able to sort it.
What makes it easier for me, I have the 1841/51/61 Census's for Accrington in my computer, I can split screen and view two census's together to see if people are still at the same address.
Retlaw
That doesn't help identify the house within (say) Victoria Villas though.
The Burgess Rolls would.
Where's Victoria Villas.
Retlaw.
Burgess Rolls? I remember Energen Rolls
Daft begger.
Burgess Rolls were the forerunners of todays register of electors.
Todmorden
Hoody Blell, fancy having to live in pudding land,
thas getten mi sympathy.
Retlaw.![]()
Retlaw;697151 said:Todmorden
Hoody Blell, fancy having to live in pudding land,
thas getten mi sympathy.
Retlaw.![]()

It's worse than that - I live in Sheffield
How does one get access to the Burgess Rolls ?
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