As more land in West Bridgford was developed for housing, new roads continued to be needed and the use of a theme for them continued, as did the ban on the word ‘street’.
When Sir Horatio David Davies became Lord of the Manor in 1889 he also named new roads after his family. These included Ella, Florence, Violet, Mona and Cyril and were used as the village extended into the Lady Bay area.
As Musters Road was developed southwards a group of roads was named after public schools. This gave us Rugby, Eton, Harrow, Repton, Hailebury, Malvern and Sherborne Roads. The aerial photograph, taken in 1935, has north to the top: in the bottom right hand corner the bridge on Boundary Road crosses the railway line, marking the start of what is now the Green Line.
When Abbey Park was built in the 1970s many roads were named after abbeys. Thus we have, for example, Tewkesbury Close, Bisham Drive, Buckfast Way and Mountsorrel Drive. In the neighbouring Gamston area, the Lake District gives Ambleside as the main road through, with side roads named after places in the Lake District.
When the area west of Loughborough Road was developed the main road through it was named Compton Acres, after the National Trust property of that name. Side roads echoed this with Acorn Bank, Ascott Gardens, Lyme Park and Melford Hall Drive.
Other road names are linked to features of the area before building. For example Mickleborough Way recalls Mickleborough hill near Wilford hill. Greythorn Drive is named after the Greythorn Brook which eventually reached the River Trent. Boundary Road was the southern extent of the parish of West Bridgford.
The earliest building in West Bridgford, St Giles’ church is acknowledged with Church Drive, Rectory Road and also Glebe Road on the site of some of the land formerly belonging to the church.
If your road has not been mentioned in this brief account, more detail of the road names before 1966, can be found in chapter 3 of Aspects of West Bridgford’s History 2 edited by David Mellor and published in 2007.
Written by West Bridgford & District History Society.