"Richard J." wrote in message
om...
michael adams wrote:
"John Rowland" wrote in
message ...
Richard J. wrote:
John Rowland wrote:
In Thames Rd aka Strand On The Green, just west of the railway
bridge is an alley called Post Office Alley which contains a small
old floodgate at the river end. Set into one wall of this alleyway
is a line of solid metal knobs which are shaped like carpentry
dovetails. The line is level (i.e. level with a spirit level
rather than level with the rather sloping ground). There is
nothing in the other side of the alley. I presume they serve some
flood defence purpose but I can't figure it out. Any clues?

I can't help with your question, but just to correct one point in
your post:
Thames Road is not "aka" Strand on the Green. The name Strand on
the Green is applied both to (a) the riverside village just
downstream from Kew Bridge, and (b) within that village the highway
along the river bank. That highway starts as a road but the road
soon veers away from the river at which point it becomes Thames
Road. Strand on the Green (the highway) continues along the river
bank as a mere towpath, but still has houses fronting on to it
(with postal addresses of xx Strand on the Green) whose land
reaches back as far as Thames Road, sometimes with separate
buildings fronting on to Thames Road.
Buildings or gates on the south side of Thames Road may therefore
carry either Thames Road numbers or Strand on the Green numbers,
usually without specifying which. As far as I remember, the
situation is not helped by the numbers on the two roads running in
different directions.
Finding house number X in Thames Road can be difficult!

"What is the name of this road" is often a surprisingly difficult
question to answer: it is not rare for the two sides of a road to
have different names, although this is a particularly unusual
example, because there are Thames Road properties on both sides of
the road, and there are Strand On The Green properties on both sides
of the road, and the experience of someone driving along the road is
that both sides of the road are changing name back and forth. In
particular, there are some properties numbered as Strand On The
Green on the north side of the road east of the point where Thames
Road starts, which defeats your argument. Therefore I don't consider
my original post to be in need of correction.

Just a thought.

What you see on Strand on The Green are the backs of the houses. Same
as the top end of Park Lane whose "actual address" is far less
prestigeous.
So possibly in both cases the owners have taken advantage of the fact
that their houses stand on two thoroughfares and have chosed the
better one - even fitting a letter box if necessary.

As you say, "just a thought". If you'd actually been there,

I've been there any number of times.

The houses with the oriel windows are similar in style
to those in Park Lane. The rear of the house was intended to
provide a view - Park Lane into Hyde Park Strand on The Green
onto the River.

Weren't you aware of that?

Zoffanys House faces the River IIRR. At the time
the various houses were built there was no thoroughfare
only the Green behind, and houses were built facing in
either direction. All were identified simply as Mr X's Hse
on the Strand on the Green.

When artisan cottages were built on the site of the fornmer
Green in the 19th century a thouroughfare was created known
as River Road. Occupants of the existing houses on the river
side of the road had the option of choosing either address.

Over the ensuing years occupants on the opposite side of River
Road took advantage of the ambiguity on the Strand on The Green
side and upgraded\renamed their properties so as to enhance
their percieved value. As advised by their Esarate agents
quite possibly.

,
you would
realise that your thought doesn't match the architecture and position of
most of the buildings. Was your previous post pure conjecture as well?


Are you denying that some houses on the river side of River Road were
originally built facing in opposite directions ? Some facing
the river and some backing onto it ?

If necessary I can post one of of any number of snaps of oriel windows
with doors added later to adjacent houses, plus frontages such as
Zoffanies house.




michael adams

....



--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)