Why was High Street, Basford changed to Basford Road?

[BecB 0]

Hi there,

I'm new to this site - just joined today!

I was wondering if anyone could help me.

My boyfriend has just bought a house on Basford Road, Old Basford. It seems quite an old house so I've been doing a bit of research on the area to see if I could find anything out. I found out today that Basford Road used to be called High Street.

Does anyone know why the name of the road was changed? If it was originally known as High Street the I'm guessing it was quite an old part of town.

If anyone knows anything then that would be great, I would just like to get to the bottom of it! Seems like quite an interesting road.

Thankyou!

[poohbear 1,360]

It was changed in the mid fifties...never knew why.Mind you it was never much of a high street...just three sweet shops and a Marsdens and that was it.Maybe that's why they changed it to road.It was a mixture of buildings...On the left from Nuthall Road in the fifties...some terraces of small houses and the odd larger house in it's own grounds.The opposite side being all council houses.

[Cliff Ton 10,464]

Welcome to Nottstalgia BecB. Like poohbear, I can't tell you why the road had a name change, there are cases of that happening in most parts of Nottingham, and it was probably down to some anonymous council/corporation official who decided that was what was needed.

However, back in the late 19th century, that road was more obviously an important part of the old Basford. Depending on the age of your boyfriend's house, it may be on here.

[StephenFord 866]

Welcome BecB. I would hazard a guess that the logic behind re-naming was that it wasn't really Basford at the Nuthall Road end. I lived just round the corner in a prefab on Aslockton Drive in the early 50s (when it was still High Street) - but we always regarded that area as Aspley. So Basford Road was the road that went to Basford. Other possibility - post office pressure in view of confusion with other High Streets in the city? I know Kildare Road (St Anns) was re-named from Station Road which would similarly have duplicates all over the place.

[poohbear 1,360]

A bit of a no mans land there Stephen...The shops on Nuthall Road from the prefabs up to Melbourne Road may have been considered Aspley as was the library and the old Aspley cinema(Commodore).But the old High Street and the Newcastle pub was a bit in the middle.The council estate off High Street and of course the Whitemoor school were known as Whitemoor.

Where I lived further along Nuthall Road towards Cinderhill didn't have any specific area in the address apart from 'Nuthall Road,Nottingham'

[StephenFord 866]

Think you're right there Poohbear, that end of High Street was neither fish, flesh nor fowl.

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Bought a target rifle from a chap who lived on Aslockton Drive, 1963 if I remember correctly.

Colin

[BecB 0]

Thank you for the replies everyone!

I love the old map of Basford - and his house is on there! It's close to the 'church fields' park which used to be a graveyard but I don't know what church it belonged to (if it even did) or when it stopped being used as a graveyard. Does anyone know if it has anything to do with the old chapel that's across the road from it?

[janet.garrett 1]

My folks lived in 50 High St (big place on the corner of Whitemoor Rd) from the 1930s though to the early 1960s. Dad is 91 and his sister is 97 both have clear memories of the area. Their parents ran the newsagency in the war years and up til 1957 when they immigrated to NZ.

[Cliff Ton 10,464]

It still amazes me (I'm easily pleased) when an old thread like this turns up again, and I see something I posted more than 8 years ago.

 

 

[Alpha 176]

 

In all probability the reason why High Street was renamed Basford Road was because it confused postal addresses. High Street Terrace was the last line of old Newcastle miner’s terraced cottages on the right hand side of Basford Road before the Newcastle Arms on Nuthall Road. This area was known locally as Whitemoor. Not Aspley or Basford.

 

As such, number 5 High Street, located next to Church Street cemetery, had, on a number of occasions, to deliver mail which was addressed to number 5 High Street Terrace.

 

All the terraced cottages from High Street Terrace up to Saxby’s boundary wall consisted of old miners’ cottages and three corner shops. There was, however, a farmhouse that separated this main block of terraces and and the upper single terrace of miners’ cottages located next to the ‘twitchel’,  opposite Hayling Drive.

 

The farmhouse was owned by the Pendleton’s a family which had an orchard with the house set back from the road. The farmhouse is still there but not as it was then.

 

I always thought Basford started from the White Swan on the corner of Alpine and along Church Street.

 

From Whitemoor Road to Nuthall Road was Whitemoor and Aspley began at the junctions of Nuthall Road, Bar Lane and Melbourne Road.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

I had an aunt who lived on Hayling Drive and we always referred to it as Whitemoor when I was a child.