On 7 Apr, 13:13, "John Rowland"
wrote:
Paul Terry wrote:
In message , John Rowland
writes

Why was Woodville Road built? Why was it given a name, when it could
have been considered a part of Donaldson Road

It is shown as a continuation of Donaldson Road in the 1948 and 1954
editions of the Bartholomew Greater London Reference Atlas, but as
Woodville Road in the 1961 edition. So the dreadful deed was
presumably perpetrated between 1954 and 1961. Perhaps it was a cheap
way of commemorating some venerable Councillor Woodville or similar?

Good thinking. My 1957 Geographers Atlas of London shows Woodville Road, so
that puts the change between 1954 and 1957. But I wouldn't trust maps to be
accurate over something like this, and it's possible that the maps were
altered to correct an earlier error rather than reflect a recent change.

Anyway, my main point is why this piece of tarmac is there at all. The
eastern part of Littleton Street in Earlsfield is a similar waste of land.
There are numerous others.

Bacon's shilling map of 1880 seems to show development extending
westwards from Kilburn High Road. Might Donaldson Road/Woodville Road
have marked the limit of one builder's laying-out of streets, and only
become logically surplus to requirements when the next section of
Brondesbury Villas was commenced?

StuartJ