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Cllr John Bryant on the path from West End Lane leading to Lymington Road |
Am I in Thingy Street or is it Wotsit Lane?
Name That Path! project launched for the unidentified alleyways of West Hampstead
THEY are the streets with no name, the paths in West Hampstead that have to make do with colloquial labels like “the black path” or “that alley behind the station”. But not for much longer.
Liberal Democrat councillor John Bryant launched Name That Path! on Tuesday, a project aimed at finally putting a name to three hitherto unidentified pathways in West Hampstead.
He has already begun surveying residents for suggestions and compiling a list of names that are used locally in the absence of anything official. It has been suggested that any new name could be used to honour the people and places that have put West Hampstead on the map over the years.
Duplicates of existing names cannot be used. Thus we can’t have Lithos Lane because there’s already a Lithos Road.
The paths in need of a name are an alley behind the Thameslink station that leads to Broomsleigh Street, a stretch that links Finchley Road with West End Lane, running behind the Lithos Road estate and another that leads from West End Lane to Lymington Road.
There are plenty of famous names that could be drawn from the West Hampstead area such as Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas and Imelda Staunton – but local government etiquette suggests waiting a little longer before honouring those still alive and kicking.
Names of locals who have died, celebrated on a national level or not, are being given more consideration.
Cllr Bryant said he already had a plausible suggestion for the Lymington Road to West End Lane path.
“I have received the suggestion Bentley Way to commemorate the author EC Bentley, who was a crime novel writer who I am told lived in Lymington Road in the 1930s,” he said.
Other paths that have already been named after people in the area include Wayne Kirkham Way, off Mill Lane, named after a boy that died while climbing on nearby railway lines more than 30 years ago, and Granny Drippen Steps, off Broadhurst Gardens, named after an old lady who used to sit there and sell flowers.
Cllr Bryant’s challenge is likely to have residents scanning the archives for famous West Hampsteadians.
An “ordinary mother”, Elisabeth Hagedorn, who lived in the same house in Ravenshaw Street from 1892 to 1945 and is honoured with a plaque, might do the trick.
Watchmaker and jeweller Clifford Norman Bowler, who worked in Mill Lane for nearly 70 years, could also tick council boxes.
There’s also Ursula Bahler, known as the Angel Of West Hampstead, who spent three years living on the doorstep of a house in Sumatra Road in protest against her eviction. She died in 2004 without ever giving up her brave fight and she is still remembered fondly locally.
Other suggestions include Decca Records – Decca Records Lane or Decca Avenue, anyone? – after the famous label which had a studio in Broadhurst Gardens, now the English Opera House building.
As a governor at Beckford School, Cllr Bryant said he likes Beckford Way for the path behind the Thameslink to indicate where it leads.
Camden Town ward councillor Theo Blackwell suggested that local panels of “worthies” are formed to decide what streets should be called in their areas, and to avoid streets being named after meaningless flora and fauna with no connection to the area, such as “Juniper Crescent” in Chalk Farm. n Suggestions should be emailed to Cllr Bryant: john.bryant@camden.gov.uk or posted to him at Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, WC1H 9JE, by the end of January. He hopes to get the new road signs up by May. |
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