In article ,
"John Rowland" wrote:
From: Benjamin Lukoff )

If the actual name of the street is KENSINGTON HIGH STREET,
why is the station called HIGH STREET KENSINGTON?

Only 54 months late, but I think I've figured it out.

The London County Council decided at some point (1930s I think) that it was
going to ensure there were no duplicate road names in its area, and took to
renaming vast tracts of the county of London.

It started earlier than that. The Metropolitan Board of Works (1855-1889)
had begun the work of renaming streets to remove duplicates and stop
people getting post intended for the occupant of the same property on a
different street of the same name. It changed 3,000 names in its time.
The LCC had to be prodded by the Post Office to continue it, and by 1935
it had changed 2,700 names. At this point it began to see light at the
end of the tunnel and took a policy decision that there were to be no
duplicated names at all. In many libraries in London you will find the
LCC publication giving the names of streets in London.

They also sometimes changed the numbering, adopting a uniform scheme
that the smallest number would be the closest part of the street to
St. Paul's Cathedral.

Incidentally are there only two streets in London which have fractional
numbers in them? (Balls Pond Road and London Wall)

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